​Avoiding The Productivity Paradox: How AI Can Lead To Real Gains

Innovation​Avoiding The Productivity Paradox: How AI Can Lead To Real GainsByTom Dunlop,Forbes Councils Member.for Forbes Technology CouncilCOUNCIL POSTExpertise from Forbes Councils members, operated under license. Opinions expressed are those of the author. | Membership (fee-based)May 08, 2026, 10:15am EDTTom Dunlop is cofounder and CEO of Summize, a CLM solution, and a former General Counsel for high-growth technology companies. getty​At the leadership level, I’ve seen a prevailing narrative: AI is already delivering major efficiency gains. But when you talk to the people actually doing the work, the reality often looks different. In many cases, the work hasn’t disappeared; it has simply moved somewhere else. In fact, what I see from regularly speaking with teams and customers is that AI usage is often fairly surface-level and hasn’t fundamentally changed how work gets done.Expectation Versus Reality: What The Data SaysThe data reflects this gap between expectation and reality. Gallup research shows that workplace AI use is increasing but remains relatively limited. The share of U.S. employees using AI daily rose from 10% to 12% between 2023 and late 2025, reflecting gradual adoption rather than widespread transformation.​At the same time, research from the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis suggests generative AI is already producing measurable efficiency gains. Among workers who actively use generative AI, the technology saves an average of 5.4% of their working hours. However, when those gains are averaged across the entire workforce, including employees who do not yet use AI, the impact drops to 1.4% of total work hours saved.​Those numbers show AI is helping people work more efficiently, but the gains so far are incremental rather than transformational. That’s okay. A big misconception about AI is that it should immediately automate entire workflows. Most successful AI implementations today are relatively simple, serving as companions to people doing the job...