India Leads in Workplace AI Adoption, But Unsuccessful Pilots Raise Concerns

India has emerged as a leader in workplace AI adoption, according to a recent study by Salesforce. The Agentic Workplace Study, which surveyed over 1,500 desk workers across various countries, found that Indian workers are 45% more likely than the global average to say AI is part of their core workflow.

The study also revealed that India has the highest incidence of unsuccessful AI pilots, with 38% of workers saying their organization experienced an unsuccessful AI pilot in the last year. This compares to a global average of 28%.

Deepu Chacko, VP of Solution Engineering at Salesforce, said, 'India's AI story is now about execution. The workforce is experiencing AI in the flow of work, and that experience is creating a more mature expectation from technology, AI that understands their business, supports their role, and helps them make decisions with confidence.'

The study found that workers in India are skeptical about AI, with 49% considering themselves AI skeptics. The top reasons for unsuccessful AI pilots in India include lack of business context (34%), limited ability to personalize AI to their role or tasks (31%), generic outputs (31%), insufficient training (29%), and too many different tools (28%).