A recent survey of U.S. business leaders—AI Quarterly Pulse Survey: Q3 2025—found that 42% of those organizations are using artificial intelligence (AI), and 55% are currently piloting new uses. Not surprising.

The executives reported a range of challenges in achieving their goals with AI investments. The quality of their organizational data topped this list at 82%, up from 56% last quarter. Cybersecurity (78%, up from 68% last quarter) and data privacy (62%, down from 69%) were also key concerns. A smaller proportion of executives are concerned about regulatory uncertainty (43%, down from 55%) and lack of risk/governance processes (35%, up from 30%).

What was surprising is that these executives reported an increase in the requirements for “humans-in-the-loop” in…