IFS has published a global study highlighting the rapid adoption of industrial AI globally, but it is not without some challenges.
A study from a Sweden-based industrial AI company has spoken out from over 1,700 senior leaders in the field, finding that adoptions are almost doubled within 12 months.
IFS calls the changing landscape an “invisible revolution” and describes the change from a “movement from a consumer productivity AI experiment to an operational AI embedded within the entire core business process.”
But at the same time, the organization is not fully prepared for its implementation, warning that knowledge gaps can potentially cause problems.
The size of the challenge is supported by figures that show that while in-organization adoption has risen from 32% to 59%, only 29% trust AI to make strategic decisions.
Furthermore, 52% of global leaders say their executives don’t understand AI, and 99% of the global workforce require “major reskills” to widen the impact of global AI.
These findings are particularly concerned, given that the benefits of industrial AI are widely recognized in many areas, including maintenance automation, anticipation of disruptions, supply chain optimization, and asset management and manufacturing decisions.
The survey reports that 88% of global organizations using industrial AI have already recorded profitability gains and their use is on a full rise.
Already, 54% of those surveyed have deployed automated AI, while 45% use predicted AI and 35% of agent AI.
Deployment is hampered by a lack of trust, with 68% of respondents saying that humans must review or approve AI-generated output. There are also concerns about bias.
All of this adds to what ifs calls the “AI execution gap.”
“AI is the central driver of business performance. It’s time to plug in the AI execution gap. It’s time to combine people, processes and products to deliver concrete results,” says Kriti Sharma of Ifs.
“The pace of adoption is exciting, but the next big lock comes from scaling trust, strategy and talent. Industrial AI is a powerful force for good, and we are in moments of opportunity.
IFS Invisible Revolution Study 2025 is available Read online.
