How to think like an AI revolutionary and unlock value in the decade ahead

What would it take to change your mindset about artificial intelligence (AI)? As a leader, are you motivated by seeing what other organisations are achieving using AI? Already, 40% of Australia’s surveyed CEOs are at the point where they expect AI to increase profits this year.

Could the catalyst be the sheer scale of the opportunity? After all, PwC’s new Value in Motion research reveals that AI has the potential to increase global economic output by a staggering 15% in the next decade. In 2025 alone, more than AUD$11 trillion in value could be unlocked as megatrends like AI reconfigure industries and redefine leaders’ priorities.

Perhaps, then, the question is not what would change your mindset about AI, but how your mindset about AI should change.

It’s no exaggeration to say we’re witnessing an AI revolution. From generative AI (GenAI) through to agentic AI with autonomous agents, advanced technologies are supercharging productivity, enabling companies to improve workflow, operate more efficiently, and deliver better outcomes. 

Already, almost half (42%) of Australia’s surveyed CEOs reported increased efficiencies in their workers’ time due to GenAI over the past year (PwC’s 28^th Annual CEO Survey). These gains are substantial and significant. However, as soon as multiple players start applying the same technology to their operations, any comparative advantage in the marketplace will shrink.¹

Radical and lasting wins, on the other hand, come from a more transformative use of AI. 

Here, we’re talking about using AI to innovate at scale. About reinventing your operating model, not just your workflow. Or as we said recently at AI Unbound featuring TED those leaders unlocking the greatest value using AI are not just doing things differently; they’re doing different things.

At the heart of this unfolding revolution is the need to use AI to establish and grow ecosystems. We’ve long known that Australia’s top-performing companies use alliances and ecosystems to drive growth, boost efficiency, broaden customer relationships, improve sustainability outcomes and manage risk. Our research shows the top 20% of Australian companies – those achieving a significant performance premium - are at least 1.2 times more likely to leverage alliances and ecosystems than their peers. Now, that advantage is being amplified by fast advancing AI. 

As megatrends such as AI play out, the global economy is moving from traditional industries (worth US$105.28 trillion in 2023) to fluid, interconnected value chains or ‘domains of growth’ (worth an estimated US$132.54 trillion in 2035). That’s an enormous amount of value up for grabs. Emerging from this flux is a constellation of players coming together, collaborating, forming and reforming in dynamic ways. Because of the powerful ‘flywheel’ effect that they can have on performance, ecosystems are critical for companies in the dynamic decade ahead. 

The good news is that as AI agents become more sophisticated, and companies use AI agents across an increasing number of applications and platforms, the cost and friction of interacting with other organisations will fall. Moreover, because AI agents, like ecosystems, are geared towards solving customer needs rather than representing any one organisation; a well-governed fleet of AI agents can support and enable the creation of value at scale.

Take Quantium Telstra and Commonwealth Bank’s recent Fraud Indicator platform for example. This collaboration between a technology analytics company and a bank connects a customer-centred ecosystem using AI to safeguard mobile banking sessions and prevent fraud in real time. Previously distinct industries with customers facing a shared challenge of fraud and scams; one AI-enabled solution.

When establishing ecosystem solutions, research shows that growing an exchange of value between participants within these ecosystems matters. Macquarie Business School surveyed managers working in ecosystems in Sydney and Silicon Valley and found that generous systems, where partners share information and resources more openly, seem to generate greater competitive advantages (innovation, efficiency, quality, and responsiveness) by lowering transaction costs and distributing value.²

But here’s the rub: trust remains a barrier to AI adoption by Australian leaders.

When it comes to AI, trust is an enabler of change. Our joint PwC/World Economic Forum report asked early adopters about their learnings from leveraging GenAI across the workforce, and trust emerged as a major factor for success. And yet only a third of Australia’s surveyed CEOs currently have a high degree of trust in AI (PwC’s 28^th Annual CEO Survey).  

How, then, do Australia’s C-suite foster trust in AI (internally and externally), and become leaders in the AI revolution?

We’ve identified these five critical skills and mindset shifts that will set apart the leaders of tomorrow:

1. Adopt a 'learn-it-all' approach: Continuous learning, including re-learning, is crucial to successful leadership in the age of AI. Leaders need to become adept at continually absorbing new ideas and solutions – because the one thing you cannot outsource is your own learning. It’s important to note that this will sometimes involve unlearning previous knowledge or assumptions as technology evolves. The most effective organisations have unlearning built into their strategy and actively plan to have their operations disrupted by new technologies, capabilities, and innovations as they emerge. This is why 'learn-it-all' rather than 'know-it-all' mindsets are needed. Leaders must foster an organisation-wide culture of re-learning and promote learning capability across the organisation.
2. Scale human accountability: Just as your board can’t oversee every transaction, human-in-the-loop governance simply doesn’t scale for high-volume AI operations. How, then, do leaders achieve human accountability at scale? The answer lies in developing and establishing principles, practices, policies and controls to stop AI from making consequential decisions without some degree of human oversight. Enter the human-at-the-helm approach. This is the gold standard of AI governance, where humans are accountable for overall controls and processes rather than being ‘in-the-loop' of each individual AI decision and action. As AI controls, safety and regulation matures, we’re witnessing a shift towards risk-based human-at-the-helm oversight. It’s not about taking humans out of the loop; it’s about ensuring human accountability at the scale of AI. As part of this process, leaders need to establish clear lines of responsibility for decisions made by AI systems, including introducing AI champions or leaders. The only way to achieve scaled performance with AI is with strong capabilities in AI risk management and assurance. These ‘gatekeeper’ functions must step up to become AI thought leaders within their organisations. This will really shift the dial when it comes to being a revolutionary AI organisation.
3. Think transition, not end-state: Transition takes time and a change mindset. Every organisation’s transformational journey is unique, and it’s important to consider your organisation’s history, as well as your current state, when coming up with your future strategy. Leaders must respect organisational heritage. Take the time to understand organisational wisdoms, including previous failures, as well as analysing current strengths, competitor positioning, and broader market trends. The rapid rate of innovation of AI also means the end-game for AI is both opaque and far in the distance. Your next best step with AI will be better informed when you understand your current footing and your general direction of travel.
4. Anticipate uncertainty: Embrace not knowing and make uncertainty an explicit part of your organisation’s strategy. This includes building in checkpoints to revisit and re-think strategy. Take, for example, NASA’s humanity-shaping Artemis program. This complex, multi-decade program is made up of several ambitious missions culminating in human presence on Mars. (Namely: flight test a spacecraft around the moon; send humans to explore the lunar South Pole; establish a long-term presence on the moon as a stepping stone for Mars etc.) At each stage of these planned missions, scientists anticipate and in fact rely on new technologies to emerge that will make existing technology redundant or fill existing capability gaps, with the addressing of this uncertainty baked into their strategy.
5. Interplay guaranteed: Resist looking at AI through a single lens and instead consider AI in conjunction with other technologies such as robotics and quantum computing. Leaders need to understand and anticipate how these technologies interact, and how they influence one another. (Advances in robotics, for instance, might ensure that our most tangible interactions with AI will be via embodied machines standing beside us rather than software agents operating on distant cloud infrastructure.) The future might be uncertain, but interplay between future technologies is guaranteed.

Ultimately, the pressure for businesses to reinvent is at or near a 25-year high. Leaders who can foster trust and harness AI to create ecosystems are set to capture a huge amount of value in the next decade. But first, it’s time to shift your mindset around AI.