Untrained managers are stalling Britain’s AI returns

British businesses are pouring copious amounts of capital into AI, but meaningful returns are by no means guaranteed.

New research from the Chartered Institute of Management found that only one in 20 managers report real, transformational productivity gains from AI investment.

Meanwhile, one in four say they have seen no benefit at all.

The CMI’s survey of over 1,000 managers point to a leadership deficit, with just one in eight managers feeling confident leading AI adoption, and two in five admitting they lack the training to make it work.

“Untrained managers are holding back Britain’s AI boom”, said CMI chief executive Ann Francke. “Getting AI in the door is the easy part. Making it actually deliver is much harder, and comes down to how organisations are led”.

The problem, however, does not stop at middle management, and Digital Institute’s annual ‘what directors think’ report sees a huge disconnect at board level.

Blind leading the blind?

AI ranks as the number one priority for 2026, with 42 per cent of directors citing it as a major investment focus.

Yet just three per cent say they use it extensively at work, and only eight per cent report that their boards have strong AI knowledge – the lowest domain expertise score recorded across every category.

“Many boards are being asked to govern, fund and champion transformation that few have yet integrated into their own practice”, said Dottie Schindlinger, executive director at the Diligent Institute.

Without the right governance structures in place, she added, investment can outpace oversight.

This makes it harder to track performance and ensure capital is being deployed effectively, especially given rising scrutiny from investors and regulators.

Schindlinger added that the fix is practical: clear policies on AI use, careful evaluation of new tools, and crucially, direct experience.

“Directors who have personally used the AI tools their organisations are deploying are better positioned to evaluate proposals, challenge assumptions and assess progress”.

A national skills gap

Government data published in January shows only 21 per cent of UK workers feel confident using the technology in a work setting, with one in six businesses having adoptedd AI as of mid-2025.

Smaller firms are hardest hit, with micro-businesses 45 per cent less likely to adopt AI than larger firms.

The public sector has responded by expanding its AI Skills Boost programme, now targeting 10 million workers in the next four years, with partners like the NHS, the CBI and techUK joining names like Google and Microsoft.

Free foundational courses are available to every adult across the country, and a £27m funding package has also been announced to create up to 1,000 tech jobs in local communities.

Google UK managing director Kate Alessi has pushed back on fears that AI will trigger mass unemployment, arguing that major tech shifts have historically created more jobs than they displace.

But she acknowledged: “Most people are really only scratching the surface of what these tools can do for them”.