Addressing uncertainty is a critical challenge for leaders today as geopolitical tensions, shifting consumer preferences, talent disruptions, evolving regulations, and rapid technological advancements increasingly complicate the business landscape. According to Learning to Manage Uncertainty, With AI, a new report by MIT Sloan Management Review and Boston Consulting Group, artificial intelligence, a major source of uncertainty in its own right, is essential for meeting this challenge.
“Our previous research found that organizations with superior learning capabilities are more likely to obtain significant financial benefits from their AI use,” says Shervin Khodabandeh, a BCG managing director, senior partner, and coauthor of the report. “Now we find that the reverse is also true. Using AI can improve organizational learning capabilities, and these learning improvements are tied to not only enhanced financial results but also the ability to manage strategy-related uncertainties.”
Augmented Learners Are Prepared to Manage Many Types of Uncertainty
Organizational learning and AI-specific learning (augmented learning) help enterprises manage uncertainty and disruptions from talent mobility, changing technology, and evolving regulatory and legal requirements. The survey results show a clear link between organizational learning and preparedness for talent mobility disruptions. Only 39% of Limited Learners feel ready to manage knowledge loss from departing employees, while this rises to 64% in those with strong learning capabilities. Using AI can further contribute to this readiness: Eighty-three percent of Augmented Learners are prepared to deal with the uncertainty of knowledge disruption from talent mobility—twice as much as Limited Learners.
“Companies can adopt five practical and actionable strategies to enhance their organizational learning through AI,” said Leonid Zhukov, vice president of data science at BCG and a coauthor of the report. “These strategies include fostering growth in both organizational and AI-driven learning, leveraging AI to drive exploration, accelerating learning with AI, selecting initiatives that support continuous learning, and ensuring responsible and ethical AI usage.”
The research finds that organizations that combine organizational learning with AI-specific learning outperform organizations that do neither or employ either alone. For instance, 15% of organizations integrate AI into their learning capabilities. These organizations are 1.6 times more likely than those with limited learning capabilities to manage various environmental and firm-specific uncertainties, including unexpected technological, regulatory, and workforce changes.
