The AI-Readiness Reality Check

Are we AI-ready? Not yet.

2025 may perhaps be remembered as the year when AI adoption surpassed existing organizational capabilities. AI tools are being integrated into decisions, systems, and services at scale, yet the foundational human capabilities needed to use and oversee them responsibly remain uneven and underdeveloped.

Our upcoming 2025 Global Data Literacy Benchmark study reveals a world still catching up. Every day, AI is increasingly used in decisions such as credit assessments, diagnostics, and hiring. These decisions affect millions of people. Without adequate oversight, AI may amplify existing biases, reinforce errors, and make decisions that very few can adequately explain or challenge.

The integration of AI into our day-to-day work requires not just technological deployment but human discernment. Employees must be able to read, question, and validate data-driven insights. They must know how to apply context, exercise judgment, and communicate conclusions. And, increasingly, they must be able to oversee the machine.

AI readiness depends as much on human competencies as on technical infrastructure.

Without real and deliberate investment in our human capabilities, organizations may face significant challenges: deploying AI without adequate oversight, embedding bias instead of equity, and reinforcing decisions that lack clarity or context. Human capability is not optional. It is a critical safeguard in an algorithmic world.

Are we AI-ready? Not yet. But we are slowly moving in the right direction.