AI is lagging behind at work: New CBS studies point to a lack of strategy, training and shared direction
Two new CBS studies show that Danish companies not only lack skills and clear frameworks for AI, they also often overlook that AI tools come with their own strategic logics.
AI has become part of everyday life for many people in Denmark, but when it comes to using AI at work, the picture is far more blurry.
This is shown in the report ‘AI i hverdagen og på arbejdspladsen (AI in everyday life and at work)’, which builds on a nationally representative survey with 4,281 respondents, including 2,647 in active employment.
Here, 59% say they use AI privately, but most are still in an experimental phase, and only 7.8% consider themselves highly proficient users at the highest level.
At work, the differences are striking. 70% of leaders use AI in their job, while this applies to only 32% of employees. At the same time, only 11.4% of the workforce has received formal AI training, and among employees the share is 10.4%.
A leadership and communication problem
According to Torsten Ringberg, Professor at the Department of Marketing, this is not just about technology.
“Denmark is in the middle of an AI adoption that is deeply uneven. Leaders are pushing AI adoption, employees are skeptical, and without active intervention the gap will only grow. Almost half of employees do not find AI relevant to their job. This is not a technology problem. It is a communication and leadership problem.”
The study also shows that 47% of employees do not believe AI should be used in their company, and that the most widespread barrier is the perception that AI is not relevant to their job. Only 27.6% of employees expect to increase their use of AI in the coming year.
According to the researchers, this points to many companies not yet having made AI concrete and meaningful in employees’ daily work.
“The study clearly shows that AI is not failing technologically in Denmark, but organisationally. We have the tools, but we lack the leadership understanding and shared mindset needed to turn AI into real value in everyday work.”
Companies lack strategy
One of the most striking findings in the report is that many companies still appear to lack a clear strategy for how to use AI.
According to the study, 84% of top management confirm the absence of a company AI strategy. At the same time, 38% of employees say they do not know whether such a strategy exists.
Per Østergaard Jacobsen, Director at Efficiens and part-time lecturer at CBS, calls it a leadership communication vacuum:
“Everyone is talking about AI. The most concerning result in our study is that companies do not have a strategy for using AI. 84% of top management say there is no strategy, but 38% of employees do not even know whether a strategy exists, and this is a leadership communication vacuum.”
The report also points to a security issue: 43.8% of top management use AI in open, uncontrolled environments, even though this group typically has access to the most sensitive business information. In addition, 27.4% of employees do not know whether they are working with AI in a secure way.
AI tools are not without perspective
The second study, ‘AI-værktøjer og deres mindset (AI tools and their mindset)’, shifts the focus from the use of AI to the tools themselves.
The researchers examined six AI agents and compared their strategic mindset with data from more than 630 respondents in Danish companies collected between 2020 and 2025.
Conclusion: AI tools are not neutral. They are shaped by specific ideas about good leadership, customer engagement and strategy.
The study shows a clear mindset gap between Danish companies and AI agents because while companies are mainly shaped by approaches focused on listening to and selling to customers, AI agents are more often driven by logics of co-creation and holistic responsibility. This may influence the recommendations AI provides.
“AI agents are not neutral advisors. They are distilled reflections of the management literature they are trained on. The key question is not which AI agent is best, but which strategic mindset it carries, and whether it matches your company, your employees and your customers.”
AI tools change strategy
The study also shows that the tested AI tools, such as ChatGPT and Claude, are not necessarily stable.
Most changed two out of three strategic responses within just one month, from January to February 2026. According to the researchers, this makes them unsuitable as a definitive guide for leadership.
“The choice of AI agent is not an IT question; it is a strategic choice. Our analysis shows that different AI tools recommend fundamentally different paths, depending on their embedded mindset. Strategy before technology.”
Together, the two CBS studies paint a picture of Danish companies in the middle of an AI transformation, but without the organisational and strategic foundations fully in place.
The technology is already here. The question is no longer whether companies should use AI, but how to do so in a way that is strategic, secure and meaningful for leaders, employees and customers.