May 22, 2026, 5:03 a.m. ET
- Artificial intelligence is creating both optimism for growth and anxiety about potential risks for organizations worldwide.
- A global survey shows about 25% of executives report AI is significantly impacting their business models.
- While useful for tasks like data analysis, AI lacks human reasoning and can make significant errors, particularly in complex fields like tax preparation.
- AI adoption is more aggressive in regions like South Africa and Asia compared to a more incremental approach in North America and Europe.
Artificial intelligence is creating optimism about growth and efficiency – and anxiety about what can go wrong – for businesses, universities and other organizations in the U.S. and around the world.
“Executive Perceptions of Artificial Intelligence Opportunities and Risks: A Global Analysis” is the focus of a survey conducted by the North Carolina State University Enterprise Risk Management Initiative, the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants and the Chartered Institute of Management Accounting.
The global survey’s respondents included 1,735 executives in eight geographic regions and eight major industries; the survey also included nonprofit organizations, federal and state agencies, and universities. The data show about 25% of respondents said AI is “mostly” or “extensively” impacting their business models, providing them with a strategic advantage – or raising worries about how the competition is using AI. Within a subset of 453 organizations, 73% said AI is giving them a strategic advantage – and 54% are concerned about what use competitors are making of it.
As AI advances across borders, oceans and continents, in its path are businesses, nonprofits and every other organization that’s working to figure out their AI futures. Underlying such decisions is the fact that AI’s march is unavoidable in virtually every aspect of corporate and governmental life, and to believe otherwise is like thinking that smartphones will never become a big deal.
While AI can do many things, it can’t do all things well. AI doesn’t have human discernment, and it sometimes makes mistakes. In the tax and financial world, such mistakes can be damaging or even catastrophic. Fox News explains it this way in a story about AI use in tax preparation: “When tested on standard tax scenarios, leading AI systems routinely made big mistakes – misapplying thresholds, miscalculating liabilities, and incorrectly determining eligibility for common credits that millions of taxpayers depend on and claim for themselves every year.”
AI has its place, but not at the top of the decision-making chain. AI works well in identifying irregularities or performing repetitive tasks in many areas, among them financial reporting, invoicing and accounts payable, and analyzing and can even offer predictive models of business direction. What AI doesn’t have is human reasoning, experience, understanding of legislative or judicial intent, or significant other elements that factor into financial and operational decisions. Ideally, AI’s work enables human professionals to spend more time on significant issues.
Geographically, AI use and development are more aggressive in South Africa, Central and South Asia, and East/Southeast Asia. In these regions 40-42% report “substantial business model impact and strategic advantage.” This compares with 20% of North American and European respondents, who take a more incremental approach to the technology. Variance in AI advancement potentially creates new problems: nations or regions driving forward headlong into AI development may run past governance controls that will keep AI a meaningful tool rather than a damaging force.
With respect to who’s using AI the most: “Industries with strong data intensity and operational complexity reveal the greatest AI impact. Mining, Financial Services, Professional & Business Services, and Transportation report the highest levels of business model transformation and competitive pressure, reflecting clear and immediate AI use cases such as predictive analytics, automation, dynamic pricing, and knowledge work augmentation,” the survey’s findings say.
Worldwide, the equivalent of an Indy 500 race is underway to create ever-more advanced AI systems. What’s unalterably true is that businesses and organizations will be at a disadvantage if they don’t invest in AI applications and control systems. What’s equally true is that it’s dangerous to engage in an overreliance on AI.
When dealing with any professional, company or organization that uses AI in their service, ask about their use of AI and the controls they have in place. Get a clear explanation. Doing so will give you confidence about their efficient use of AI, and reduce or eliminate potential anxiety about what can go wrong, wherever you are in the world.
Samuel French is president of the accounting and business consulting firm Rodefer Moss & Co. PLLC, headquartered in Knoxville. The company’s website is rodefermoss.com.