While many enterprises are implementing AI tools, inconsistent execution is leaving some ‘stuck in pilot mode’, according to a new report. An AI adoption gap is being driven by what it calls the “middle maturity trap”, where high investment activity fails to translate into sustained resilience and foresight. As a result, decision-making times are lengthening as confidence in AI adoption fluctuates, with fewer than 30% of businesses feeling prepared for upcoming governance requirements.

These findings come from AuditBoard’s inaugural Risk Intelligence Report, which combines proprietary platform data covering over 50% of the Fortune 500 with survey insights from more than 400 global risk professionals.

The report highlights that two-thirds of enterprises remain siloed in structure, systems or decision-making, while bursts of activity, such as spikes in collaboration or risk logging, are not sustained.

Raul Villar Jr., chief executive officer at AuditBoard, commented: "The 'middle maturity trap' isn't a budget problem; it's an execution gap where inconsistent governance undermines the full promise of AI. To close this gap, businesses must make governance a continuous, shared habit across audit, risk and compliance teams."

Forward thinking organisations, he added, are turning governance into a strategic advantage by institutionalising risk oversight at board and executive levels, embedding control adoption and risk logging as continuous habits and aligning audit, risk, compliance and infosec teams on shared KPIs.

AuditBoard's report also notes that emerging risks are driving hiring, with 70% of respondents to its survey expecting to expand risk management teams, and 40% planning to grow cyber security teams.

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