Bank of Scotland Business Barometer paints an interesting picture of Scotland’s relationship with AI. More than half (54%) of Scottish businesses plan to increase investment in AI skills, and 47% believe that failing to adopt AI within three years will put them at a competitive disadvantage.

Yet only 48% currently use AI, compared with 61% across the UK – and among those already using it, lack of understanding (25%) is the biggest barrier to getting more value from the technology.

Lindsay Ratcliffe, chief innovation and transformation officer at Edinburgh-headquartered AI-native digital transformation organisation CreateFuture, argues that the answer isn’t simply more AI investment or making more specialist hires. Businesses need to get much clearer about what they actually want to achieve with AI.

Commenting on the findings, Lindsay said:

“Scotland doesn’t have an AI ambition problem. Businesses clearly recognise the opportunity and are prepared to invest. The bigger risk is that companies spend heavily on AI skills and technology without having clear strategic goals about where AI can accelerate to create real business advantage."

“Lack of progress can often be attributed to lack of ownership. Who owns the AI agenda?"

“The organisations taking the lead are those who recognise AI is not a technology problem - it's a cross-functional opportunity that sits all across the executive functions. AI capability isn’t just about having specialists in the building. It’s about people across a business understanding where AI can genuinely make something better – whether that’s the customer experience, a product or an internal process – and where it can’t."

“My advice to Scottish business leaders is simple: don’t start with an AI strategy, start by identifying the problems holding your business back. Then ask where AI could make a measurable difference, put the right people around those problems and prove the value. Then scale what works."

“Scotland already understands that AI will matter to its competitiveness. The priority now should be turning that intent and investment into something tangible. Otherwise, we risk spending more on AI without closing the gap between adoption and achieving actual business value.”