The AI Business Insights Report, now in its second year, has tracked a consistent pattern: familiarity is rising faster than formal training. External research points to the same gap. McKinsey's Superagency in the Workplace report found that nearly half of employees want more formal AI training and view it as the most effective way to boost adoption.
WSI collected insights from over 600 organizations across multiple regions, company sizes, industries, and roles. The report found that 52% of professionals who say they are familiar with AI have not completed any formal AI training. This leaves many organizations relying on self-guided experimentation rather than building repeatable capabilities their teams can use consistently.
Consultants from across the WSI network say the same pattern shows up in day-to-day client conversations: businesses often start with quick wins, but adoption stalls when AI use is not tied to real operating processes. Outputs vary by person; teams redo work to correct inconsistent results; and leaders hesitate to expand usage because of quality, brand consistency, and review standards.
“For business owners, the risk isn’t that employees are using AI. It’s that they’re using it in different ways, with different assumptions, and no shared standard for quality,” said Valerie Brown-Dufour, President of WSI. “Without structure and reinforcement, AI becomes scattered experimentation instead of developing into a real organizational capability. That’s where time, trust, and consistency get lost.”
The approaches that hold up within SMB and mid-market teams tend to share three traits: hands-on training, real deliverables, and shared standards supported by leadership—so AI use becomes repeatable day to day, not dependent on individual experimentation.
In response to the training and consistency gaps highlighted in WSI’s ongoing research and client work, WSI delivers practitioner-led enablement through its AI CAMPUS programs and role-based workshops. The training is designed to help teams standardize how AI is used across common functions, establish prompt and review standards, and put clear guidelines in place for when human approval is required. In 2025, WSI delivered AI training through its global network to more than 20,000 professionals across 500+ organizations, based on internal program reporting.
“The companies that pull ahead will not be the ones experimenting with the most tools,” Brown-Dufour added. “They will be the ones that build shared capability early so teams can move faster without sacrificing quality, and leaders can scale adoption with confidence instead of guesswork.”
The full AI Business Insights Report is available here. Businesses looking to turn AI experimentation into repeatable workflows can learn more about WSI’s AI training and enablement programs here.
You can also read more about it in our press release here.
