Adobe’s latest report reveals that 57% of Southeast Asian companies are struggling to scale their artificial intelligence (AI) initiatives beyond the pilot stage. The study, part of Adobe’s 2026 State of AI Readiness Report, surveyed 461 senior executives across the region, highlighting organisational readiness as a critical factor in AI success.
The report identifies several hurdles that prevent AI projects from advancing. Notably, 36% of AI proposals fail during IT evaluation, and 18% are rejected at the security review stage. This issue is particularly pronounced in regulated sectors like financial services and healthcare. Furthermore, only 12% of companies have a designated AI owner with budget authority, compared to 89% of those identified as AI Leaders.
Jeremy Willmott, Senior Director of Adobe’s Digital Strategy Group Asia Pacific, emphasised the importance of organisational structure, stating, “As AI investment grows, the gap between experimentation and enterprise-wide value is becoming harder to ignore.”
Despite increased investment, with 73% of companies boosting their AI budgets annually, many remain in the early stages of AI maturity. Only 6.3% of Southeast Asian firms have successfully scaled AI across multiple workflows. These Leaders demonstrate a higher rate of converting pilots to production and maintain a destructive-failure rate below 1%.
The report suggests that companies need to focus on ownership, accountability, and embedding AI into processes to move beyond isolated pilots. As AI adoption outpaces workforce readiness, 81% of businesses report that their AI skills gap has remained unchanged or worsened over the past year.
