Most Companies Report Being Surprised by Unexpected High AI Bills

Asana data reveals that 82% of businesses faced unexpected AI bills in the past year.
Risky AI outcomes affected more than half (53%)
AI systems lack context and workers are forced to pick up the pieces

Four in five UK IT leaders (82%) say their organization has experienced unexpected or unforeseen increases in AI-related costs over the past 12 months, with many investing heavily in the technology but unable to predict the true scale of costs, including deployment, governance, integration and scaling.

The data, revealed by Asana, suggests that companies are indeed moving from pilot to full-scale adoption, but it does not take into account the cost changes associated with wider deployment.

Organizations are also struggling to prove ROI, but IT leaders are under increasing pressure to meet board expectations.

AI bills are soaring

“The challenge now is to turn this into measurable business value,” commented Christina Francis, Head of Asana UKI and Northern Europe.

Three in five UK IT managers (61%) say they are highly or completely responsible for the business outcomes driven by AI, but these outcomes are not always as positive. Half (53%) say an AI tool or agent took actions in the past year that put them in a difficult situation, such as financial damage, legal issues, or reputational damage.

Actual deployments may not be as well thought out either, as half (46%) say AI projects often fail because they lack full context, without access to workflows, internal knowledge and business processes. More than a third (37%) of knowledge workers spend even more than 30 minutes each day correcting AI results due to a lack of context.

“AI is most powerful when it has context: the goals, decisions, and workflows that surround the work,” Francis added.

Asana also uncovered the extent of shadow – or untrusted – AI that forces businesses to pay for services that aren’t always used. One in four (25%) report frequent use of unauthorized AI, and two-fifths (38%) regularly use personal AI accounts for work-related tasks.

Ultimately, the report concludes that workers are willing to accept faster ways of working, but will also find alternatives if approved tools aren’t up to par. As always, the best advice for businesses is to meet workers where they are and build a strategy around them to deliver the best ROI and cost savings.

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