The benefits of AI in business, according to the research
What published studies measured: where AI speeds work up, where it makes work worse, and what that means for a smaller business. Every figure links to its source. Our own reading is marked Our view.
You'll talk to Usama, who writes the code.
Using AI is common. Getting results from it is not
“Eighty percent of respondents report that AI has improved their individual productivity, and 50 percent report that AI helps them make better decisions.”
“Thirty-seven percent of respondents attribute at least some EBIT impact to AI use (about the same share as last year).”
Our view: Most people using AI at work feel the benefit. Far fewer businesses can see it in their profit. The gap is in how it's put into the work.
Figures from published research, linked. These are not Samisoftz results.
The businesses that get the most out of it change the workflow
“Nearly three-quarters of high performers report fundamentally redesigning workflows because of their AI use, up from 55 percent last year. By comparison, just one-quarter of other respondents report doing so.”
“The results show that organizational factors like culture, manager support, and talent practices account for more than 2x the reported AI impact of individual factors like mindset and behavior (67% vs. 32%).”
Our view: Handing staff an AI tool is the easy part. The results come from deciding which steps AI does, who checks them, and how the workflow changes around it.
Figures from published research, linked. These are not Samisoftz results.
Where AI makes work faster
“Productivity gains from AI are largest in structured, measurable work where outputs are easy to monitor.”
Customer support.
“Access to the tool increases productivity, as measured by issues resolved per hour, by 14% on average, including a 34% improvement for novice and low-skilled workers but with minimal impact on experienced and highly skilled workers.”
Writing tasks. In a preregistered experiment, 453 college-educated professionals did writing tasks for their own occupation, and half were given ChatGPT.
“The average time taken decreased by 40% and output quality rose by 18%.”
Knowledge work. The preregistered experiment involved 758 knowledge workers, on tasks developed with Boston Consulting Group.
“subjects using AI outperformed those not using AI, completing 12.2% more tasks and completing them 25.1% more quickly on average while also delivering solutions of significantly improved quality.”
Across studies.
“Studies report gains of 14% to 15% in customer support, 26% in software development, and 50% in marketing output.”
Figures from published research, linked. These are not Samisoftz results.
Where AI makes work worse
“for a complex managerial task selected to be outside the frontier, subjects using AI were 19% less likely to produce correct solutions compared with those without AI”
“Gains are smaller in tasks requiring deeper reasoning, and recent evidence raises concerns that heavy AI reliance may carry long-term learning penalties that slow skill development over time.”
Our view: AI is good at some steps and confidently wrong at others, even inside the same job. That's why we test it on your own past examples before it goes live, and keep a person on the steps where a wrong answer costs you.
Figures from published research, linked. These are not Samisoftz results.
Adoption: smaller businesses are behind
“Fifty-four percent of respondents from organizations with at least $1 billion in annual revenue report scaling AI across the enterprise, compared with one-third of those from smaller organizations.”
The next line is about AI agents. In this survey, smaller organizations means annual revenue under $1 billion.
“Forty percent of respondents from large organizations (those with annual revenues of more than $1 billion) report scaling AI agents, up from 27 percent last year. The share of respondents from smaller organizations reporting scaling remained flat at 22 percent.”
“Organizational AI adoption continued to rise in 2025, up to 88% of surveyed organizations, though AI agent use remains early.”
Figures from published research, linked. These are not Samisoftz results.
Adding an AI tool vs putting AI into the workflow
Our view, drawn from the research above. This compares two ways of starting, not two groups of businesses that anyone has measured.
| Compared on | Adding an AI tool | Putting AI into the workflow |
|---|---|---|
| Where it lives | A separate chat window staff open when they remember | Inside the inbox, CRM, store or admin panel the work already happens in |
| What it knows | What someone pastes in | Your own records and documents, read through access you control |
| Who checks it | Whoever happens to read the answer | A named person on the steps that matter |
| How you know it works | A feeling | Test results on your own past examples, agreed before it goes live |
| What changes | One person's speed | The workflow: which steps AI does and who reviews them |
| Who owns it | The tool vendor | You: code in your GitHub, accounts in your name |
What this means if you run a smaller business
Our view:
- Start with one workflow that repeats often and has a clear right answer. That's where the measured gains are.
- Keep people on judgement calls. The research shows AI can make those worse.
- Measure it on your own examples. Industry averages won't tell you how it does on your documents and your customers.
- Change the workflow around it, or the gain stays with whoever happens to use the tool.
Projects we've worked on
We don't name clients. Each build is described with the client's details removed.
- 6,000+ active users on an AI SaaS we worked on
- A PDF bank-statement converter
- A video clipping tool
- A live shopping app
- A luxury car hire site
Who you'll work with
I'm Usama. I write the code on every project and I'm the person on your call. Samisoftz is me and a small team, so we take a few jobs at a time.
Questions people ask
Where can I find reliable AI productivity gains data?
In controlled studies like the ones on this page. Each one names its sample size and links to the paper, so you can check what was measured.
Does AI make businesses faster?
In the studies above it did for structured work. Customer support agents resolved 14% more issues per hour on average, and professionals finished writing tasks in 40% less time. It did worse than people without AI on a complex task outside its abilities. Results depend on the task.
Are these Samisoftz results?
No. Every figure on this page comes from the published research linked next to it.
Why do so many businesses use AI without seeing a result?
McKinsey's 2026 survey found 37 percent of respondents attribute at least some EBIT impact to AI, while 80 percent say it improved their own productivity. The businesses that see more tend to redesign the workflow around AI.
Which work benefits most?
Work that's structured and easy to check, such as support replies, writing first drafts and routine documents. The Stanford AI Index 2026 says gains are smaller in tasks requiring deeper reasoning.
Sources
Accessed 22 October 2026.
- McKinsey & Company, The state of AI in 2026: On the road to ROI, 25 August 2026.
- Stanford HAI, The 2026 AI Index Report, Economy chapter, 2026.
- Brynjolfsson, E., Li, D. and Raymond, L., Generative AI at Work, NBER Working Paper 31161, 2023; The Quarterly Journal of Economics 140(2), 2025.
- Microsoft, 2026 Work Trend Index: Agents, human agency, and the opportunity for every organization, 5 May 2026.
- Noy, S. and Zhang, W., Experimental evidence on the productivity effects of generative artificial intelligence, Science 381(6654), 2023.
- Dell'Acqua, F. et al., Navigating the Jagged Technological Frontier, Harvard Business School working paper, 2023.
Want to see where AI would help in your business?
Book a free 30-minute call. Bring one workflow and we'll tell you if it's a good fit.
You'll talk to Usama, who'd build it.
30 minutes · no slides · a written answer if it's not a fit