UK AI Pulse down three points in January as sceptics force confidence to fall to lowest level in five months

Expleo’s AI Pulse tracks four measures of business sentiment towards AI in the UK: worry, excitement, trust and confidence. It gauges sentiment on an index from zero (very worried) to one hundred (very confident), showing how attitudes shift as organisations move from early experimentation towards more embedded, operational use.  

The UK sentiment score for January is 68 down from 71 in December, showing the biggest single month fall in confidence from the September high of 78.* In addition, to the core sentiment tracker questions, respondents were also asked how concerned they are about the accuracy/quality of data they receive from AI tools in their day-to-day work with six out of ten (59%) confirming their worries.

Beyond the dip in overall score and concerns around quality of data, the overall trend remains broadly optimistic with 76% of leaders having confidence in their organisations’ ability to use AI successfully, 77% trust their organisation to use AI ethically and just 30% saying they are worried about how the tech will transform their working lives. Additionally, most UK respondents continue to see AI as primarily beneficial to business (68%), with just 13% viewing it as a risk.

Together, the latest tracker scores point to a shift toward a more sceptical view, where leaders still back AI’s value but are paying closer attention to the quality of the output. 

Jeff Hoyle, EVP and MD UK & North America at Expleo, said:January’s results point to a shift in expectations among UK leaders. As challenges with embedding AI into day-to-day operations continue to be a feature, many organisations are asking tougher questions about the quality of the data behind AI and the confidence they can place in the results. That scrutiny reflects a more sceptical approach to AI that could start to affect investment decisions in the technology.” 

Cybersecurity remains part of that scrutiny. Just over half of UK respondents (51%) say they are worried about the cybersecurity risks associated with AI, slightly lower than in December, reinforcing the focus on strong controls as organisations look to deploy AI more confidently and at greater scale. 

Hoyle added: “With AI becoming more widely used, confidence depends on having the right safeguards in place. Organisations want assurance that new capabilities can be introduced without increasing risk, and that requires a clear focus on security and governance.”