This article was written by Sinclair Schuller, EY Americas Responsible AI Leader. The original article was published by EY. You can find the article here.
In brief
Artificial intelligence (AI) is advancing at breakneck speed. Businesses are racing to identify use cases, as well as integrate and scale AI across their products, services and operations. But successful deployment depends on more than just speed. Responsible AI is a critical enabler of adoption and long-term value creation.
Most companies now have responsible AI principles in place — but how well are they putting them into practice? How well do they understand consumer concerns? And how much confidence do they have that they are well prepared for the new risks emerging from the next wave of autonomous AI models and technologies?
To help answer these questions, EY has launched a Responsible AI Pulse survey — the first in a series — to provide a regular snapshot of business leaders’ real-world views on responsible AI adoption.
In March and April 2025, the global EY organization conducted research to better understand C-suite views around responsible AI – for the current and next wave of AI technologies. We surveyed 975 C-suite leaders across seven roles including chief executive officers, chief financial officers, chief human resource officers, chief information officers, chief technology officers, chief marketing officers and chief risk officers. All respondents had some level of responsibility for AI within their organization. Respondents represented organizations with over US$1 billion in annual revenue across all major sectors and 21 countries in the Americas, Asia-Pacific (APAC), and Europe, the Middle East, India and Africa (EMEIA).
Within this article, we also reference findings from the EY AI Sentiment Index Study, which surveyed 15,060 everyday people across 15 countries to understand global sentiment toward AI. A full methodology for the EY AI Sentiment Index study can be found here.
The first wave of this survey reveals a significant gap between C-suite perceptions and consumer sentiment. The findings also reveal that many C-suite leaders have misplaced confidence in the strength of their responsible AI practices and their alignment with consumer concerns. These gaps have real consequences for user adoption and trust, which are only likely to rise as agentic AI increasingly enters the market.
CEOs stand out as an exception — showing greater concern around responsible AI, a viewpoint that’s more closely aligned with consumer sentiment. Other C-suite leaders are half as likely to express similar concerns, potentially due to lower levels of awareness or lower perceived accountability. By tuning in to the voice of the customer, embedding responsible AI across the innovation lifecycle, and making these efforts central to brand and messaging, organizations can begin to close the confidence gap and give consumers greater assurance in how AI is being developed and deployed. The payoff? Increased trust and a potential competitive edge.
A significant share of CxO respondents — 31% — say their organizations have “fully integrated and scaled AI solutions” in place across the organization. While this might seem high, it reflects the pace of adoption of large language models (LLMs), which are rapidly becoming part of business-as-usual across all enterprises.
It may also exhibit an imperfect understanding of the true potential of AI. Truly integrating and scaling AI across an entire organization requires much more than technical deployment of LLMs. It involves reimagining business processes, identifying high-value use cases, and investing in the underlying foundations — from data readiness and governance to AI solution engineering, talent and change management. Forward-looking CxOs recognize this and are ramping up efforts to build the infrastructure and skills required to stay ahead.
Respondents’ assessment of maturity of AI deployment across the organization
But AI is an ongoing journey. Implemented technologies often reach a steady state, even as more advanced capabilities emerge. The next phase is already taking shape: organizations are preparing to invest significantly in agentic AI and other transformative AI models that go beyond automation to support reasoning, decision-making and dynamic task execution.
“AI implementation is unlike the deployment of prior technologies,” says Cathy Cobey, EY Global Responsible AI Leader, Assurance. “It’s not a ‘one-and-done’ exercise but a journey, where your AI governance and controls need to keep pace with investments in AI functionality. Maintaining trust and confidence in AI will require continuous education of consumers and senior leadership, including the board, on the risks associated with AI technologies and how the organization has responded with effective governance and controls.”
Nearly two in three CxOs (63%) think they are well aligned with consumers on their perceptions and use of AI. Yet, when compared with data from the EY AI Sentiment Index study — a 15-country survey of 15,060 consumers — it becomes clear this confidence is misplaced.
Across a range of responsible AI principles — from accuracy and privacy to explainability and accountability — consumers consistently express greater concern than CxOs. In fact, they are mostly twice as likely to worry that companies will fail to uphold these principles.
CxO respondents are also less concerned than consumers about a range of potential AI-related societal harms. Interestingly, the issue on which both groups are most aligned is job losses — and neither considers it much of a concern. This is noteworthy given how much attention the potential for AI-related job losses has received in the media over the years. Instead, consumers are more worried — significantly more so than CxOs — about issues such as AI-generated misinformation, the use of AI to manipulate individuals, and AI’s impact on vulnerable segments of society.
This misalignment may also be due to organizations under-communicating the maturity of their AI governance, their approach to managing risks, or the safeguards they’ve already put in place. Strengthening transparency around AI risk profiles and responsible innovation practices could help close this gap — helping consumers to feel more informed and reassured.
Interestingly, companies that are still in the process of integrating AI (“integrating companies”) tend to be more cautious in assessing how aligned they are with consumer attitudes. Just over half (51%) of CxOs in this group believe they’re well aligned — compared with 71% of CxOs in organizations where AI is already fully integrated across the business.
But integrating companies show stronger alignment with consumers — particularly in their levels of concern around responsible AI. CxOs in this group express higher concern across key principles such as privacy, security and reliability — concerns that closely mirror those of consumers.
This could reflect a heightened sensitivity during the early stages of AI adoption, where governance structures and stakeholder engagement are still being shaped. By contrast, CxOs who report having more mature AI deployment may feel more confident in the strength of their controls and safeguards, and therefore express lower levels of concern.
Another potential reason for this mismatch could be that a significant portion of CxOs in the “fully integrated” cohort might have an incomplete awareness of the potential of AI. If these C-suite leaders have a low AI awareness, they may be overconfident about their alignment with consumers and even the robustness of their AI governance.
Regardless, the gap between consumer concerns and perceived alignment remains significant — and could affect public confidence in AI-enabled services. Even with robust responsible AI practices in place, if consumers don’t understand how risks are being managed, they may remain hesitant to engage. That’s why transparency and communication are critical.
Indeed, the EY AI Sentiment Index Study shows that there are significant gaps between consumers’ openness to AI and their adoption of the technology — especially in sectors such as finance, health, and public services where trust is paramount.
Many companies are still grappling with implementing responsible AI principles for generative AI (GenAI) and LLMs. On average, organizations have strong controls in place for only three out of nine responsible AI principles. Over half (51%) agree that it is challenging for their organization to develop governance frameworks for current AI technologies, and the outlook for emerging AI technologies is even more concerning. Half of CxOs say their organization’s approach to technology-related risks is insufficient to address new challenges associated with the next wave of AI.
In fact, a significant segment of companies that are using or plan to begin using these technologies within the next year do not have even a moderate level of familiarity with the risks these technologies raise. Companies need to close this awareness gap now, to encourage greater confidence and adoption.
CEOs are a bright spot in the data as they stand apart from other C-suite leaders in their awareness of responsible AI issues and alignment with consumers. Among the seven roles surveyed — including CFOs, CHROs, CIOs, CTOs, CMOs and CROs — CEOs are:
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