85% Executives Are Unprepared to Implement Responsible AI: HCLTech-MIT Report

A recent study by HCLTech and MIT Technology Review Insights reveals that while 87% of business executives consider responsible AI principles critical, 85% admit they are not adequately prepared to adopt them.

The report, titled Implementing Responsible AI in the Generative AI Age, was launched during the World Economic Forum’s Annual Meeting in Davos. It highlights the widening gap between recognizing the importance of responsible AI and the ability to implement it effectively.

Steven Hall, President of Europe and Chief AI Officer of ISG, remarked, "Everybody understands how transformative AI is going to be and wants strong governance, but the operating model and the funding allocated to responsible AI are well below where they need to be given its criticality to the organization."

According to the reports, the key challenges hindering responsible AI adoption include, complexity of implementation, lack of expertise, operational risk management difficulties, regulatory compliance hurdles, and insufficient resource allocation.

Despite these challenges, the study finds optimism as enterprises plan to increase investments in responsible AI over the next twelve months.

Vijay Guntur, CTO & Head of Ecosystems at HCLTech, emphasised, “AI can be a tremendous force of positive change in businesses and society at large, but its full potential can only be realized when it can be trusted.”

The report provides actionable recommendations for enterprises, including:

1. Establishing a robust responsible AI framework with guiding principles for ethics, safety, compliance, and change management.
2. Leveraging partnerships within the technology ecosystem to pilot and integrate best practices.
3. Setting up a dedicated Center of Excellence to drive cross-functional AI initiatives.

HCLTech has proactively established an Office of Responsible AI and Governance, led by subject matter experts with experience in frameworks such as NIST and the Europe AI Act. This office focuses on co-innovation, consulting capabilities, and intellectual property solutions related to responsible AI.

The study surveyed senior business leaders across various industries worldwide and found that AI-driven transformation is progressing from proof of concept to wider adoption, with growing interest in applications across customer service, software development, and marketing.

Additionally, agentic AI—operating autonomously with minimal human involvement—is gaining traction in lower-risk areas like IT operations.

While half of the respondents feel confident in managing operational risks, fewer than 25% are prepared to address user adoption, change management, and bias-related issues.