- Early promise meets real-world experience as confidence settles at six-month low
- UK AI Pulse sentiment score drops to 64 in February (highest score: 74, Sept 2025)
- AI Pulse tracks levels of confidence, trust, worry and excitement around AI
- February sees 14% drop in confidence in the ‘ability to successfully use AI’ down to 66% from high of 80% in multiple months in 2025
- Levels of excitement cooled by 15% to 66% (81% in September 2025)
- Trust in ethical use fell to 74%, down 10% since August 2025 high of 84%
London, UK, 17 March 2026, Expleo – New data from Expleo shows that business leaders’ confidence, excitement and trust in the ability of AI to transform their organisation are at the lowest levels in six months, suggesting that AI adoption is entering a more mature phase where early promise meets real-world experience.
Expleo, the engineering, technology and consulting services provider initiated the AI Pulse in August 2025, tracking business leaders’ sentiment towards AI based on four measures: worry, excitement, trust and confidence. It gauges sentiment on an index from zero (very worried) to one hundred (very confident).
The February sentiment score for the UK sits at 64, a ten-point drop on its highest level to date of 74 in September 2025. This downward trend is driven by a 14% fall in confidence in AI’s ability to transform organisations – from a high of eight out of 10 throughout much of 2025, to just two-thirds of respondents by February.
Jeff Hoyle, EVP and MD UK & North America at Expleo, said: “Our data clearly shows that UK business leaders’ confidence in AI is declining, but what’s interesting is what’s behind this trend. The flattening reflects a shift from early optimism to real-world experience of implementing or scaling AI solutions, leading to a more mature understanding of integration challenges.”
Excitement in the opportunities the tech brings organisations has also fallen – down 15% from its September 2025 high of 81% to 66% by February. Similarly, trust has taken a hit, falling to 74%, down 10% on the August 2025 high of 84%.
Hoyle commented: “Optimism about AI remains high, but the focus has shifted from promise to delivery. As organisations step beyond proof of concept and into enterprise integration and scaling, heightened expectations around return on investment, governance and accountability are trending.”
Expleo’s 2025 research found that although most organisations classed their AI initiatives as successful many struggled to move beyond the pilot stage due to integration challenges and capability gaps. This is supported by recent AI Pulse data which shows that execution pressures are now feeding through more directly into board-level confidence.
Hoyle added: “Leaders undoubtedly still see potential in AI but are more pragmatic about what it takes to make AI a success. Organisations should work closely with their partners to improve data readiness, build employees’ skill sets and maintain rigorous governance. Without these gaps being closed, consistent performance will continue to be a challenge and there’s a risk leaders’ confidence will continue to erode.”
