Welcome executives and professionals. The pace of AI progress is unlike anything seen in technology. Early adopters are already growing revenue fast, yet many companies feel the pace is too fast to plan for effectively.

Since the previous edition, we have reviewed hundreds of the latest insights in agentic and generative AI, spanning best practices, case studies, market dynamics, and innovations.

This briefing outlines what is driving material value — and why it’s important.

Note: Previously published as Generative AI Enterprise, this briefing is now titled Enterprise AI Executive.

In today’s briefing:

• OpenAI publishes AI leadership guide.

• Google: The ROI of AI 2025.

• OpenAI outlines how AI is changing work.

• WEF & BCG: Physical AI in industrial operations.

• Transformation and technology in the news.

• Career opportunities & events.

Read time: 4 minutes.

BEST PRACTICE INSIGHT

OpenAI publishes AI leadership guide

Brief: OpenAI’s 15-page leadership playbook outlines five steps: Align, Activate, Amplify, Accelerate, Govern, offering guidance, customer stories, and practical actions to help leaders adopt AI and build AI-first organizations.

Breakdown:

• Employees adopt faster when leaders link AI to their skills, purpose, and the company's competitive advantage, while visibly showing support.

• Nearly half of employees lack AI training; leaders should encourage experimentation, tailored learning, and normalize upskilling.

• Scaling impact requires sharing knowledge, use cases, prompts and more across teams to turn isolated successes into reusable progress.

• Acceleration relies on reducing friction: flexible infra, clear decision authority, and lightweight approvals to move pilots into prod fast.

• Speed doesn’t mean ignoring risk. Practical governance ensures safeguards, enabling rapid action with clarity, trust, and accountability.

Why it’s important: AI is advancing faster than most leaders expected. Early adopters are already growing revenue ahead of peers, but many enterprises lag. Success depends on creating conditions for teams to adapt confidently and treating AI as a fundamental shift in how work gets done.

MARKET INSIGHT

Google: The ROI of AI 2025

Brief: The ROI of AI Study by Google Cloud and National Research Group surveyed 3,466 senior leaders from enterprises ($10M+ revenue) in 24 countries, each already deploying generative AI in production.

Breakdown:

• 52% of leaders whose organizations use gen AI report AI agents in production, with 39% saying their firm has deployed 10+ in production.

• 13% of leaders, classed as “early adopters,” expect to allocate at least half of future AI budgets specifically to AI agents.

• 88% of “early adopters” report ROI within a year from at least one gen AI use case, vs. 74% on average across all surveyed organizations.

• 51% of orgs say their average time from gen AI idea to live use case is 3–6 months, vs. 47% in 2024, reflecting faster execution.

• 78% of organizations with active C-level sponsorship report ROI today on at least one generative AI use case, underscoring leadership’s role.

Why it’s important: The findings signal AI’s next chapter. The debate is no longer “if,” but “how fast,” with agentic AI as a key differentiator. Early adopters are not just automating, they're redesigning processes and positioning AI as a core growth driver, backed by clear sponsorship and committed budgets.

WORKFORCE EVOLUTION

OpenAI outlines how AI is changing work

Brief: OpenAI’s 16-page report, Jobs in the Intelligence Age, explores how AI is reshaping work and creating new roles. Managed well, AI can expand opportunity, improve service quality, and enable careers of the future.

Breakdown:

• A long-term study shows most Americans now work in jobs that didn’t exist in 1940. Tech typically seeds new tasks, roles and firms.

• In emerging roles, AI outlines options while people decide, execute, and own results, keeping accountability with human workers.

• The report details pre-AI and emerging versions of 24 roles across functions including customer support, marketing, finance, and IT.

• Example: In customer support, emerging roles use AI to triage intent, draft replies, translate, summarize cases for handoff, and more.

• The report concludes with a call to action for enterprises, partners, and policymakers to prepare access, training, and infrastructure.

Why it’s important: As AI advances, new roles will emerge and existing ones will evolve. OpenAI highlights that if we “let the people prompt” and pair ambition with practical standards, opportunity can expand, services can strengthen, and stable, high-quality jobs can be built across the economy.

INDUSTRY INSIGHT

WEF & BCG: Physical AI in industrial operations

Brief: The World Economic Forum and BCG’s 26-page paper, Physical AI: Powering the New Age of Industrial Operations, explores how robotics advances are creating new opportunities for resilience and growth.

Breakdown:

• Industrial operations are at a pivotal moment, shaped by rising complexity, workforce shortages, and global uncertainties.

• Robotics, AI, and vision systems enable “physical AI” to perceive, reason, and act more autonomously than traditional robotics (table above).

• Three complementary robotics systems are emerging that will coexist: rule-based, training-based, and context-based intelligent robotics.

• Amazon and Foxconn illustrate how robotics innovations deliver results including 25% faster delivery and 15% lower operational costs.

• Manufacturers and logistics firms should adopt a physical AI tech stack, form ecosystem partnerships, and invest in workforce transformation.

Why it’s important: Traditional robots drove decades of automation but have long been constrained by limited adaptability and high integration costs. The world is entering a new age of robotics defined by intelligence and flexibility. Those who act now will lead the next phase of industrial competitiveness.

AWS released a 17-page executive guide on agentic AI, covering what makes it unique, business outcomes, and steps for leaders to drive adoption.

Andreessen Horowitz explored how many US state AI bills, like in California and New York, risk imposing costs far beyond their local benefits.

Capgemini’s 78-slide AI adoption survey of 1,100 leaders found that 14% of organizations are implementing AI agents at partial or full scale.

NTT Data CEO Abhijit Dubey explained why he’s taking on the dual role of CEO and Chief AI Officer to place AI at the core of the company’s future.

BCG outlined how generative and agentic AI can elevate RevOps, speeding deal cycles, improving decisions, and driving higher revenue growth.

SAP explored how CHROs can lead agentic AI adoption, including the role of talent management in assessing where AI and people work best.

OpenAI expanded its enterprise efforts with new offices and a go-to-market team that has grown from 50 to 700+ in the past 18 months.

McKinsey outlined five ways leaders can use generative AI to improve investment diligence, with richer insights, and faster, more confident decisions.

Anthropic raised $13B at a $183B valuation, nearly tripling in six months with enterprise Claude Code growth, while settling a $1.5B piracy lawsuit.

OpenAI published a paper on why LLMs hallucinate, plans to launch a jobs platform, a certification program, and its first AI chip with Broadcom.

Amazon is testing new agentic AI workspace software called ‘Quick Suite’ for custom enterprise agents. Early users include BMW, Intuit, and Koch Industries.

Microsoft partnered with the US General Services Administration to provide free Copilot and AI services to U.S. federal government for up to 12 months.

Google’s NotebookLM now lets users alter audio overviews with new tones, voices and styles, including ‘Debate’, solo ‘Critique’, and ‘Brief’ alternatives.

DeepSeek is developing a new AI with advanced agentic capabilities, multi-step execution and self-improvement, targeting a Q4 2025 release.

xAI sued ex-engineer Xuechen Li for allegedly stealing Grok trade secrets before selling equity, resigning, and joining OpenAI.

The White House hosted leading AI executives for dinner following an event on the new Artificial Intelligence Education Task Force.

CAREER OPPORTUNITIES

Google - AI Infra GTM Managing Director

UPS - AI Vice President

BMO U.S. - AI & Innovation Director

EVENTS

MIT - Agentic AI Leadership - September 9, 2025

OpenAI - Scaling Enterprise AI - September 23, 2025

IDC - Future of Tech Summit - November 13, 2025

Originally conceived as a practical communication for executives the editor, Lewis Walker, has worked with, this briefing now serves as a trusted resource for thousands of senior decision-makers shaping the future of enterprise AI.

If your AI product or service adds value to this audience, contact us for information on a limited number of sponsorship opportunities.

We also welcome feedback as we continue to refine the briefing.