Why Businesses That Don’t Adopt AI Will Be Left Behind

As artificial intelligence continues to improve exponentially, most businesses face a critical decision: adapt to the latest advancements in technology or risk becoming obsolete. 

In this guide I will cover the reasons why it’s essential for companies of all sizes to adopt artificial intelligence and automation throughout their business.

Operating Costs

AI has the potential to dramatically reduce operating costs across all areas of business. For example, using large language models to heavily automate tasks like copywriting, social media marketing, internal communications and sales outreach can significantly reduce human labor costs in both small and large companies. 

This reduction in costs not only has the potential for improving net profits without sacrificing quality, but companies that maintain high human labor costs will be significantly undercut, eventually making it nearly impossible for them to retain customers.

Production Speed

AI can process information and perform tasks like generating writing, images, and other forms of media at speeds impossible for humans to match.

This particularly impacts industries like media, where news outlets compete to be the first to cover recent events. Outlets using AI to write stories and articles will become known as the most reliable sources for up-to-date information, while companies relying on editors to write manually will be posting content that’s relatively outdated.

This speed advantage also has significant implications for products and services that traditionally have long turnaround times, such as:

• Website design
• App development
• Book editing
• Legal case processing
• Engineering and architectural design

Even if some customers are willing to pay higher costs for work performed solely by humans, the majority will be unwilling to wait when they can easily find companies that deliver on their promises significantly faster by utilizing artificial intelligence.

Accuracy

Professionals, despite their expertise and experience, often make mistakes in their work. An editor might miss an obvious typo or make grammatical errors that could easily be spotted by using a large language model. A customer service agent may incorrectly state a return policy, or a doctor might misidentify a serious health problem.

While AI currently makes mistakes too, it can be used to assist with oversight and check for anything humans might have missed. There are even some studies suggesting that large language models can already outperform doctors in diagnostic accuracy.

As the accuracy of AI models continue to improve, businesses that don’t adopt artificial intelligence where appropriate will eventually be seen as unreliable and providing a lower quality service.

Security

AI offers numerous security benefits for businesses. For example, companies that adopt AI-powered surveillance systems can drastically reduce losses from theft. Those falling behind in adoption of security technology will be at even greater risk as they may be considered easy targets by criminals.

This also applies to cybersecurity. Companies utilizing AI to improve their internal security – for example, by monitoring employee emails to prevent phishing attacks and using AI to detect vulnerabilities in their online systems – will have a lower risk of suffering devastating cyber attacks and financial fraud.

Scalability

One of the greatest advantages of artificial intelligence is its ability to scale. AI makes it possible to achieve ambitious projects that would have been impossible otherwise. For example, companies can easily translate books or movies into multiple languages using translation and text-to-speech dubbing software, while video game developers can create massive open-world experiences that would be impossible to craft by hand.

Shareholder/Investor Sentiment

Investment in AI is clearly viewed positively by most shareholders and investors, as companies incorporating AI into their existing products are attracting unprecedented investments. In the final quarter of 2024, 50% of venture capital funding went towards AI focused companies.

Both publicly listed and private companies may struggle to attract investment if they aren’t constantly innovating and adopting artificial intelligence in their workflows.

Conclusion

The adoption of AI is no longer optional for businesses that wish to remain competitive in the modern marketplace. From reducing operational costs to enhancing customer experience, improving security, and enabling unprecedented scalability, AI offers advantages that are too significant to ignore. 

As AI technology continues to advance, this gap will only widen, making it increasingly difficult for late adopters to catch up.