Businesses are struggling to turn the time saved by artificial intelligence into real revenue, Paul Bunting, co-founder of growthguru.ai, told IOL in an interview.
Bunting cited McKinsey survey data on company use of AI. He said 80% of respondents reported better individual productivity. He said only 37% said AI had directly added to their organisation’s earnings, and that figure stayed almost flat over the past year.
“It is fairer to conclude that AI is not overestimated; it is fundamentally misunderstood,” Bunting told IOL.
Bunting was asked whether AI has become an overhyped productivity tool that does not deliver. “No, but it has been measured against the wrong promise. The productivity gains are real and research supports this,” he said.
He said business leaders wrongly assume that saved time automatically becomes revenue growth. “In reality, organisations must actively direct the hours AI reclaims into tangible, high-leverage commercial opportunities,” he said.
Bunting warned that faster tasks should not be a company’s main goal. He said about 79% of executives expect AI to drive substantial revenue growth by 2030, up from 40% now. He said only 24% can clearly see where those future returns will come from.
“The true objective should be deploying AI to identify urgent commercial gaps and capture high-value market openings before rivals do,” he said.
Bunting said his own company built its platform around business development and not general workflow automation. He said it uses separate AI agents for specific jobs. One helps partners find vendor incentives, rebates and co-funding. Another works on go-to-market plans and co-op marketing.
He said a third agent guides partners through vendor certifications and tiers. A fourth follows enterprise updates such as Microsoft platform releases.
The interview also covered AI-enabled crime, where IOL said questions about accountability and legal liability remain unresolved. “Criminals leveraging AI for financial fraud must be held accountable for their actions, regardless of the tools they deploy,” Bunting said.
He said the business that deploys an AI system is responsible when that system causes operational or financial damage. This applies to both a company’s own AI and third-party AI, he said.
“Legal responsibility cannot simply be shifted onto the model vendor,” he said. Bunting said software developers must build safe and compliant systems, but the choice of how to use them belongs to the business. He said BCG reached the same finding in its Applied AI benchmark.
Source: this article is based on reporting by IOL Technology. Image: IOL Technology. Written with the help of AI and published by the Tzaneen Voice Technology desk. See our Editorial Standards.
Werner Jacobs covers technology for Tzaneen Voice. Werner reports on mobile networks, data prices, internet access, smartphones, apps, AI, cybersecurity and South African tech companies. Each story explains what a new product, price change or policy means for ordinary users in South Africa.