Britain starts from real strength in AI: world-class research, deep talent and a strong technology sector. But invention alone is never enough. The gains from a general-purpose technology come when it spreads through firms, workflows, infrastructure and skills, reaching businesses of every size and sector. The question this report answers is a practical one: how does Britain turn that advantage into prosperity felt in every place and by every person? Meeting that challenge is the start of a sustained campaign to move enterprise AI adoption from ambition to delivery.
Shaped by engagement with business leaders, government and AI experts from civil society, the report finds that an execution divide is now opening: between the firms redesigning workflows, putting effective governance in place and measuring returns, and those still stuck in pilots. It calls for AI adoption to become a national productivity mission, judged not by the number of pilots launched but by the difference it makes to people's lives.
Execution, not technology, is the new dividing line
The evidence shows strong momentum and clear areas of UK advantage, alongside uneven progress and persistent practical barriers.
Four findings stand out:
Leading adopters treat AI as business transformation
The firms securing the strongest returns combine strategic leadership, organisational readiness and disciplined execution. Value increasingly depends on implementation, not access to technology.
The UK can capture more of the value
Much of the value businesses seek is created close to deployment, in workflow integration, applied models, trusted data, secure hosting, assurance, cyber resilience and specialist implementation, and these layers align with genuine UK strengths.
Governance is becoming an enabler of scale, not a brake
For leading firms, responsible and human-centric adoption is the foundation for scaling with confidence, and getting it right builds the trust of customers, employees and supply chains that sustained adoption depends on.
Skills and workforce confidence are decisive
Needs span baseline AI literacy through to leadership and specialist capability, and confidence is stronger where people understand how their work will change and where human oversight will remain
Closing the divide: a shared agenda for business and government
The report sets out recommendations for business, government and other stakeholders, organised around four goals: raising productivity through adoption, building a competitive and resilient UK AI stack, enabling trusted and responsible adoption, and building an AI-ready workforce.
Its main recommendations include:
Make AI adoption a national productivity mission
Focus national effort on diffusion across sectors, firm sizes and every part of the UK, measuring progress by the difference adoption makes to productivity and people's lives, not the number of pilots.
Treat AI as business transformation, not a technology roll-out
Prioritise a few of the highest-value use cases and move them from pilot to scale, with senior ownership, redesigned workflows, proportionate governance and security built in.
Develop a voluntary Responsible AI Adoption Code and public pledge
Work with an independent, credible convener to bring business, workers, civil society and government together around shared principles, giving firms a common reference point and building trust.
Build a competitive, resilient UK AI stack, with government as an anchor customer
Accelerate investment in AI infrastructure and R&D, from compute and data to power and connectivity; back targeted domestic capability over blanket localisation; and use public sector procurement to anchor demand.
Give firms clearer routes through regulation
Introduce a “no wrong door” model and a practical regulatory map, alongside the AI Growth Lab and regulatory simplification, rather than a new approval authority.
Invest in AI skills at every level
Sustain investment from baseline workforce literacy to specialist and leadership capability, and embed AI knowledge across education, employment support and workforce transition.
Drive delivery through a time-limited Business AI Adoption Delivery Group
A government and industry partnership convened by the CBI, feeding into the Prime Minister's AI Taskforce, so public and private sector adoption reinforce each other.
Delivering the next phase of AI adoption
The task now is delivery. The CBI will provide the business voice in the emerging delivery arrangements, convene firms and delivery partners to share what works across sectors and regions, and keep gathering evidence on adoption to help government prioritise. It will also convene the work on shared principles for responsible adoption set out above, bringing partners together behind a common approach.
Shape the next phase of this work
Members can shape and benefit from this work by sharing their experience of AI adoption, what is working and where the barriers are; taking part in CBI forums and expert groups such as the Technology and Innovation Committee and the AI and Data Protection Working Group; and helping to shape the Responsible AI Adoption Code and pledge.
For more information, please contact, Shivani Gupta, CBI Senior Policy Advisor, Tech and Innovation Transformation.
