A senior PwC executive told an audience at The Information's WTF Summit that startups are better placed than large companies to take advantage of rapidly advancing AI, highlighting a widening gap between the technology's pace and its adoption inside big organizations.
AI adoption · Enterprise strategy
Startups may be better placed than large companies to capture fast-moving AI
PwC's U.S. Data, Analytics and AI Leader Rima Safari argued that AI capabilities are advancing quickly while established enterprises adopt them far more slowly, and that executives need to become hands-on builders rather than leaving AI strategy to technical teams.
The widening gap: a flow of cause and effect
1. Capabilities
AI models progress quickly
→
2. Enterprise pace
Large organizations adopt more slowly
→
3. Gap widens
Pace of technology and pace of adoption diverge
→
4. Outcome
Speed of adoption may shape competition more than access to the technology
Why incumbents move slowly
Legacy systems in daily operations
Layered approval processes
Risk controls built for earlier technology cycles
Why startups can move faster
Fewer structural constraints
Can reorganize around new tools quickly
Speed, not access to the technology, as the differentiator
What large companies must do
Executives need to become hands-on builders, not only strategy owners.
Leadership engagement
Senior leaders take part directly in AI work
Hands-on experimentation
Testing tools at the executive level, not delegating entirely
Shorter adoption cycles
The central test: closing the gap with nimbler competitors
Read as an executive's assessment of the market rather than a measured finding.
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