Australia Lagging in AI Uptake, Our Organisations Have Better Data Than They Think: Bain’s Richard Fleming

Australian organisations are trailing behind their global peers in adopting AI technologies, with “more energy” and momentum in countries like Korea and China, according to Richard Fleming, a partner at Bain & Company.

Bain surveyed US organisations at the end of 2024 and found that 95% are investing in generative AI tools with 80% indicating that the technology is meeting or exceeding their expectations. Of those, 60% are already seeing a return on investment (ROI).

“I think it’s actually very different if you go to other parts of the world,” he says.

ADAPT’s data shows that although ROI is the number one success metric for AI projects in Australia, 60% of CIOs struggle to build strong business cases and only one-third can effectively track tech value.

Fleming says companies are getting some value from AI, but many are stuck in ‘pilot purgatory’ – the gap between experimentation and full-scale deployment.