5 things to know about how companies can create value from AI

Artificial intelligence is becoming easier for companies to access — but when competitors can also use many of the same foundation models and AI agents, simply adopting AI won’t necessarily set an organization apart.

The bigger opportunity is figuring out how to turn broadly available technology into differentiated business value, according to principal research scientist Stephanie Woerner and colleagues at the MIT Center for Information Systems Research.

In the new briefing “AI Value Creation: Five Provocative Propositions,” the researchers draw on current MIT CISR research about trust, skills, data, AI agents, and value creation and conclude that success will depend less on how quickly companies adopt AI than on the management capabilities they build around it. 

To start, consider five premises behind effective management practices that drive AI value. 

1. Trust in AI agents can’t be managed — it must be built into infrastructure. 

Companies have traditionally built trust through relationships, reputations, shared incentives, and accountability. But the researchers argue that those factors aren’t inherent to autonomous AI agents — especially those developed by third parties — that operate at a speed and scale that make continual human oversight impractical.