AI models are ready, are Scotland’s businesses?

Most conversations I have with business leaders about AI start with the technology. Which models should we use, what tools should our people have? Fair questions, but they no longer decide who gets real value from AI.

Nearly two-thirds of Scottish businesses use AI in some form (Picture: Adobe)

At CreateFuture we’ve spent 16 years building technology with Scottish businesses, and we’re the only firm in Scotland with formal partner status at both OpenAI and Anthropic. That gives us a view of what’s coming and what’s happening inside businesses trying to use it.

The gap is obvious. The technology is moving faster than most organisations are changing. And every month the gap stays open, it gets harder to close.

AI is moving faster than most organisations are changing, says Darren Dalrymple

Innovation Minister Alyn Smith called AI “one of the biggest opportunities for Scotland’s economy in a generation”, with estimates of more than £23 billion a year in extra GDP by 2035. The harder part belongs to the rest of us.

Nearly two-thirds of Scottish businesses use AI in some form, according to the Fraser of Allander Institute. But adopting AI and getting a return from it are different things.

You can roll out licences to 500 people and see almost nothing move. The cost goes up, the value stays fuzzy, and the pilots stall.

The organisations getting real returns ask a harder question: if we designed this work from scratch today, how would it get done? Which parts should a machine handle? Which can it make a person better at? And which are more valuable because a human is doing them? Keeping some work human isn’t a failure to adopt AI, it’s a deliberate design decision.

AI is already turning days of work into hours, and we have a responsibility to make sure people are ready for it. The best ideas won’t always come from the boardroom or the technology team. They’ll come from people doing the work every day, who know where the work breaks. Bring them in early. They’ll spot what others miss.

Scotland has a long history of innovation and punching above its weight. We have world-class universities, ambitious scale-ups and real depth in financial services, energy, travel and retail. Now we have an opportunity to embed AI in a way that makes our businesses far more competitive.

We’re seeing that opportunity first-hand, with around 100 roles open at CreateFuture, all of which can be based in Scotland. We’ve also launched Scotland First, bringing together business leaders, practitioners and government to build skills, share what works and help Scotland make the most of what AI can now do.

Here’s my challenge to Scotland’s business leaders. Don’t start with the technology and go looking for problems to solve. Start with your business. Ask what you’d build differently today, then give your people the skills and permission to make it happen. And start now.

We don’t need every Scottish business to become an AI company. We need Scottish businesses to become better businesses because of AI.

Darren Dalrymple, Industry Director, CreateFuture​