Over the past week, I had candid conversations with three CEOs in different industries – insurance, agriculture and marketing – each at a different stage of AI adoption, yet all aligned on one key point: Artificial intelligence is not a future initiative. It is one of the main drivers of strategic transformation in their business today.

The insurance executive detailed how generative AI is streamlining research and claims analysis. The agriculture CEO spoke of using AI for predictive analytics and logistics. And the marketing leader explained how AI serves as both an execution engine and strategic sounding board – handling content, generating prospect data and even offering performance management ideas. Their industries may differ, but their direction is shared: AI is now central to how they operate and compete.

This rapid evolution is even more striking when compared to just three years ago. At a journalism and publishing industry conference I attended, AI was a topic of curiosity and concern more than application. Many were dabbling – testing tools for content tagging or workflow automation – but few had taken meaningful steps toward AI transformation. Much of the discussion centered on if AI should even be a part of ethical journalism. Fast forward to 2025, and across nearly all industries we’ve witnessed a complete shift – not just in adoption, but in mindset and execution.

According to McKinsey & Co.’s 2025 study “The State of AI: How Organizations Are Rewiring to Capture Value,” 78% of companies globally now use AI in at least one function, with 82% either using or actively exploring it. The study reveals that generative AI has been a major accelerant – 71% of companies report using tools like ChatGPT, Claude or Perplexity in their operations.

A Forbes article called “How Businesses Are Using Artificial Intelligence” reports that business functions seeing the most traction include customer service (56%), cybersecurity and fraud prevention (51%), digital assistants (47%) and customer relationship management (46%). Other areas like content creation, supply chain optimization and accounting are also quickly gaining traction.

Importantly, AI adoption is increasingly viewed as a proxy for a team’s innovation mindset. One CEO I spoke with expressed concern that one of her departments wasn’t even experimenting with ChatGPT – not even for basic tasks like information-gathering. To her, this wasn’t just a missed productivity opportunity – it was symptomatic of something deeper: a lack of curiosity and initiative. “If a team isn’t even trying to engage with a tool that’s transforming our industry, that tells me something about their adaptability,” she said. For her and many others, the willingness to explore AI, even informally, has become a signal of whether someone is prepared to grow with the business or be left behind.

The pace of adoption is striking. Data in the McKinsey report shows AI usage jumped from 20% in 2017 to 50% by 2020, then surged again to 78% in 2025. A separate McKinsey report from this year, “Superagency in the Workplace,” also predicted that 92% of executives expect to boost AI spending over the next three years. Next Move Strategy Consulting’s report, “Artificial Intelligence Market Size & Forecast Analysis | 2025–2030,” indicates that the global AI market was valued at approximately $224.4 billion in 2024, and is projected to reach $1.236 trillion by 2030. AI adoption is clearly not a passing wave – it’s the future.

For business leaders, the question is no longer whether to embrace AI – it’s whether you’re building the capability and culture to do it well and fast enough. Leadership in this new era requires more than dabbling or interest. It now demands intentional design, decisive action and a shift in mindset across the organization.

To assess whether you’re truly positioning your company to lead – not lag – ask yourself these five essential questions:

1. Where can AI deliver immediate, measurable value in our organization – and what’s preventing us from acting on it?
2. Do we have a defined AI strategy, or are we passively reacting while more agile competitors pull ahead?
3. Are we developing AI fluency across the business – from IT and data to operations, product and leadership?
4. Are we cultivating a culture of curiosity and experimentation, or allowing risk aversion and complacency to take root?
5. Are our teams proactively engaging with AI tools or waiting for top-down directives to innovate?

If your answers are unclear, inconsistent or defensive, it’s a signal. You have work to do in your organization. The AI era isn’t on the horizon; it’s already shaping the winners and leaving others behind. The most dangerous stance a leader can take now is assuming there’s still time to wait.

We are at a strategic fork in the road – a clear divide between organizations that are transforming and those that are hesitating. The only question that matters now is this: Which side are you leading from?