- Confidence in AI among UK business leaders slipped from a peak of 74 in September 2025 to 67 in April 2026.
- Rising worry about how AI is transforming organisations contributed to April’s lower sentiment score, increasing from 30% in January to 41% in April
- AI Pulse combines levels of worry, excitement, trust and confidence into a single sentiment score on a 0–100 scale
- Lower confidence in AI among business leaders suggests early enthusiasm has given way to a more balanced view on the effectiveness of AI in the real-world
London, UK, 19 May 2026, Expleo – Confidence in AI among UK business leaders is now passed its peak, according to Expleo’s AI Pulse sentiment tracker.
The shift is driven by a steady increase in worry around how AI is transforming organisations, with 41% of AI Pulse respondents expressing their concerns in April, up from 30% in January.
The AI Pulse sentiment tracker combines levels of confidence, excitement, trust and worry around AI use in business into a single score. The tracker peaked at 74 in September 2025 before falling to 64 in March and 67 in April.
This decline in confidence comes against a backdrop of high-profile cyber-attacks, reports of AI projects failing to scale and questions around the sustainability of AI use in business.
Jeff Hoyle, EVP and MD UK at Expleo, said: “Levels of confidence and excitement have slipped from their peak because we’ve moved from imagining its potential to experiencing the reality of AI implementation. When done well, AI feels limitless – from enhancing predictive maintenance in aerospace to strengthening cybersecurity in financial services.”
“When AI projects fail, it’s often due to surrounding factors like lack of guardrails, poor integration approaches or insufficient employee training. Introducing AI is one thing, integrating it into a complex working world of legacy systems, disconnected platforms and varying levels of employee proficiency is another.”
Despite increased concerns around AI, positive sentiment remains strong across three of the four emotions tracked by the AI Pulse. In April, 71% of leaders expressed confidence in their organisation’s ability to use AI successfully, 70% were excited by the opportunities it creates in their company and 76% trust their organisation to use AI ethically.
Hoyle added:“The data continues to show that leaders’ positivity about the benefits of AI sit alongside a growing concern around what it takes to deploy it successfully. What might seem to be contradictory at first is a signal of maturity and a greater understanding of the complexity and requirements needed to successfully scale AI.”
The data also reveals that growing concerns among business leaders are linked to specific challenges, particularly cybersecurity, which more than half of respondents (55%) consistently cite as a worry.
Hoyle concluded: “Businesses are no longer impressed by AI simply because it exists. They want technology that delivers results, stands up under operational pressure and justifies the investment behind it. This next phase will reveal whether AI can be sustainable, scalable and deliver on its early promise.”
