Artificial intelligence (AI) is becoming a rapidly defining priority for chief executives worldwide — or at least it should be. That was the clear message from AI experts Rajeev Kapur and Brandon Powell who spoke at YPO EDGE in Sydney.
In their session, “AI Implementation in Business,” they addressed how CEOs can turn AI into a competitive advantage for their companies and themselves.
Powell, founder and CEO of HatchWorks AI, has helped launch more than 100 digital products and scale AI solutions across the Americas; and Kapur is a two-time bestselling author and CEO of 1105 Media who has built and exited three companies.
Before companies begin implementing AI, Powell stresses that the first question business leaders should answer is: What’s the return on investment (ROI) on this?
“Is it going to make me money, save me money, save me time? And how am I going to measure that ROI,” he asks.
A 2025 report from MIT Media Lab’s NANDA initiative, “The GenAI Divide: State of AI in Business 2025,” found that 95% of enterprises are failing to see an ROI from their generative AI pilot projects. But Powell clarifies that reflects only the laggards — not the leaders who are approaching AI with the right strategy and execution.
“The leaders in AI are failing at around 30%,” he says. “They’re getting it done. But most companies are in that laggard category.”
Solve – don’t create – a problem with your AI
The difference between those who succeed and those who fail often comes down to the how and where they apply AI. Too many organizations invest in the wrong use cases.
“It doesn’t matter how good it is and how well you put it out there — if it’s the wrong use case, you’re not going to get the return,” he says.
For example, a company might decide to build a chatbot, but their customers primarily call by phone. The company built something no one is going to use.
— Rajeev Kapur, CEO 1105 Media share
“User experience is still really important when it comes to AI,” Powell says.
One of the best ways to identify high-impact opportunities is for a company to start talking to AI, he says.
“We have a GPT that we built called Opportunity Finder; it’s free — you can get it off our website — and it walks you through a set of questions,” Powell says. “Use it to understand your industry and what people are doing with AI. You don’t need to reinvent the wheel.”
CEOs also should examine their own profit and loss statement and decide where they can scale the business without adding additional employees.
“Maybe it’s customer service, maybe it’s sales,” he says. “Focus there because that’s where you’re going to have the best ROI.”
Don’t discount the human touch
But technology alone doesn’t equal success. Kapur says it’s easy to spot when companies are using AI wrong because it’s clear they’ve removed the human element.
“Do not take the human out of the loop,” he advises chief executives.
The winning formula is AI plus human judgment; AI needs to be a partner, not the boss, Kapur adds.
Case in point
To prepare for his EDGE talk, Kapur put that advice into practice. After creating his presentation, he shared details about the audience and conference with ChatGPT and asked the platform to analyze his presentation.
“It gave me information to adjust — stuff that would take me hours to figure out on my own, Googling or talking to other people,” Kapur says.
This partnership can be an easy entry point for chief executives to begin wading into the waters of AI. Use it as a rehearsal partner for presentations, sales meetings and board prep.
“Put in the information about the person you’re meeting with or the team you’re meeting with,” Kapur says. “Then you can say, ‘What are three questions that are important that I can ask him or her? What are three questions they might ask me that I can prepare for? What are some challenges that I might face, or some objections that I might get from them based on the product we offer?’”
— Brandon Powell, CEO HatchWorks AI share
But Kapur says it’s critical to give good data before asking questions. AI performance is only as good as the data behind it.
“It’s only going to train on the data you provided. If you have garbage data, it’s going to give garbage answers,” he says. “Bring the best of the AI and the best of the human experience together to provide a winning combination,” Kapur says.
The takeaway for leaders is simple: It’s time to start investing in AI for your company and yourself.
YPO members, tune in to The Source to hear Powell, Kapur and more experts on AI:“The CEO AI Test: Are You Ready to Lead or Likely to Fail.
