{
  "id": 17237541,
  "title": "AI projects not paying off? Keep at it, says Uni Productivity Institute",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/10/30/ai-projects-not-paying-off-keep-at-it-says-uni-productivity-institute-17237541",
  "topic": "ai",
  "section": "AI",
  "published": "2026-10-30T13:15:00.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "The Register",
    "slug": "the-register",
    "url": "https://www.theregister.com/ai-and-ml/2026/10/30/ai-projects-not-paying-off-keep-at-it-says-uni-productivity-institute/5306581"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "The University of Manchester's Productivity Institute has released a report examining why the increased use of AI tools has not yet resulted in the anticipated productivity gains. The report, titled \"The AI Ambition Gap,\" suggests that while AI tools can enhance individual task productivity, this progress does not always translate into overall productivity improvements for workers or businesses. The researchers found that organizations have spent significant upfront costs on staff retraining and restructuring, but the delayed payback has been a challenge. Additionally, AI can boost productivity for specific tasks, such as software developers using GitHub Copilot who completed 26% more tasks, or professionals using ChatGPT for routine writing and analysis, which reduced task completion time by 40% and improved output quality by 18%. However, studies show that increased coding activity due to AI tools has led to only a 30% growth in software releases, highlighting the gap between task-level gains and overall business productivity. The report emphasizes that job outcomes depend on the combination of automatable activities and tasks requiring human judgment, coordination, client interaction, and critical thinking. As AI takes over or accelerates certain tasks, human skills become crucial in filling any gaps in productivity. The report suggests that AI may displace labor from existing tasks while creating new roles where workers maintain a competitive advantage. The UK appears to have a favorable position due to its strong financial and professional business service sectors, which include many cognitive occupations. The government's focus on AI to drive economic recovery is seen as potentially beneficial, as the UK could experience annual labor productivity gains of 0.4 to 1.3 percentage points. To bridge the AI ambition gap, the Productivity Institute recommends that organizations focus on strategic management, workforce skills development, and workflow redesign alongside the adoption of AI technology.",
  "summary": "All that up-front investment needs time to take effect, and speeding individual tasks won't necessarily boost the entire firm",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}