A new survey by ABBYY reveals growing disillusionment among business leaders regarding the real-world implementation of generative AI (GenAI), despite its transformative potential. The State of Intelligent Automation: GenAI Disillusionment and AI Wishlist report, based on research by Opinium, highlights significant challenges in adopting GenAI, including difficulties in training models, integrating tools into workflows, and establishing proper governance. The survey of 1,200 senior executives across the US, UK, France, Germany, Australia, and Singapore—conducted between June 20 and July 8, 2025—found that 31% of leaders found training GenAI models harder than anticipated, while 28% struggled with integration and 26% lacked adequate governance. Alarmingly, 21% reported that employees were misusing GenAI tools, and 20% acknowledged the presence of “Shadow AI,” where staff use personal AI tools like ChatGPT, Grok, or Perplexity without organizational oversight. Despite these hurdles, many organizations are turning to complementary AI technologies to improve GenAI performance. Over a third (35%) adopted process intelligence, 35% implemented document AI, and 25% introduced retrieval augmented generation (RAG). These tools helped drive strong results: 98% of businesses reported satisfaction with their GenAI tools, citing better output consistency (50%), improved workflow integration (45%), higher accuracy (43%), increased user trust (43%), and greater cost efficiency (42%). However, investment plans remain cautious. Most companies expect only a 16% to 20% increase in AI budgets over the next year, with only 11% planning a 50% or greater increase. Maxime Vermeir, Senior Director of AI at ABBYY, stressed the importance of strategic adoption. “Businesses spent money on GenAI tools that promised more than they could deliver. In many cases, they didn’t even need them,” he said. He recommended using data analytics and process intelligence to map workflows before deploying GenAI, especially when training models proves difficult. He cited a case where a global fast-food chain improved lease agreement data extraction by 82% using document AI to enhance GenAI outputs. Ulf Persson, CEO of ABBYY, emphasized that while GenAI offers exciting possibilities, uncontrolled use poses serious risks. “Shadow AI raises data privacy and compliance concerns,” he said. “The true benefits of GenAI are unlocked only when leadership drives secure, strategic adoption with risk management at the core.” The report also found that employee motivation for using GenAI is high—49% use it to appear more professional, and 56% say it reduces workload and boosts productivity. Overall, 89% of leaders report positive outcomes from GenAI use. For more insights, the full report is available at https://www.abbyy.com/resources/report/state-of-intelligent-automation-genai-2025.