Swedish companies are worse at taking advantage of AI
21 September 2026
A majority (58%) of the world’s business leaders believe in increased global growth in 2025 and Swedish CEOs are even more optimistic about the future. A full 65% believe in increased global growth compared to only 31% last year. This is shown by PwC’s annual CEO survey.
The CEO Survey is a global CEO survey that PwC has published for 28 consecutive years, 4,701 business leaders from 109 countries were interviewed about their views on the current situation and the future. Of these, 102 are Swedish business leaders. The survey was conducted in October and November 2024.
The survey also shows that companies must change in order to survive. 42 percent of companies will be competitive for a maximum of ten years with the current focus of their operations.
– Despite the turbulent times we live in, many business leaders are optimistic about the future. In fact, the outlook for growth has only been more positive on two previous occasions in the past ten years. These were the pandemic years of 2021 and 2022. If they are right, the coming years will bring great opportunities for companies to invest in technology, including AI, sustainability and business model transformation, says Sofia Götmar-Blomstedt, CEO of PwC Sweden.
Business leaders have high expectations for what AI can contribute in the future. Generative AI (GenAI) and other new technologies will transform business models, redefine work processes and fundamentally change entire industries. Nearly 60 percent of global CEOs say that employees’ time can be used more effectively with the help of GenAI, and more than 50 percent say that they have been able to use their own time more effectively. According to the survey, a third of CEOs believe that AI has contributed to increasing their company’s revenue and profitability in the past year. Unfortunately, the responses from Swedish business leaders are at a significantly lower level, 15 and 17 percent respectively.
– Sweden continues to lag behind in AI development, which is deeply worrying. We are still missing out on the major benefits that AI can offer. To accelerate AI implementation, we must immediately increase trust in the technology, both among the public and business leaders, says Sofia Götmar-Blomstedt.
27 percent of Swedish respondents plan to increase the number of employees in the coming year, and globally, a full 42 percent plan to hire more. Although we are still in the early stages of AI development, we can see that the survey does not signal staff reductions as a result of AI implementation. On the contrary, it is more common to hire than to reduce the number of employees as a result of AI. This trend applies both globally and in Sweden.