“AI adoption will unfold in three waves, much like previous revolutionary technologies—electricity, digital, or mobile.“
Philippe De Ridder, Webinar on Building you AI strategy
The first wave: Applying AI to existing ways of working
You may recognize this wave from the AI investments happening in your own organization right now.
AI is being applied to existing ways of working—to automate routine processes and streamline workflows. The applications of AI in this wave revolve focus primarily on time savings, cost reductions, and efficiency gains.
The second wave: Using AI to improve quality
The next wave revolves around leveraging AI to enhance outcomes—it’s no longer only about being faster or cheaper; the goal is to deliver superior results and higher standards.
This shift often requires large-scale rethinking of the existing systems in order to find opportunities for AI to deliver the maximum it’s capable of.
"Treating AI purely as a productivity tool is a mistake.”
Yes, AI can improve productivity, but its real potential lies in creating something entirely new.
AI should no longer be seen as a tool for humans to use, but we must transition into seeing AI as connective tissue—an overarching layer that enables true collaboration between people, data, and robots.
From simply using AI tools like ChatGPT to having fully integrated systems, the shift is towards humans, agents, and robots working together seamlessly.
Think of video generation as an example: in the first wave, AI can help edit videos faster and cheaper. In the second wave, it can generate higher quality, more engaging content. But true innovation goes beyond these mere efficiency gains; AI can become the perfect enabler for hyper-personalized movie experiences—content can be tailored in real time for an audience of one, whether it’s a unique TikTok stream or a commercial generated just for you.
The third wave: AI transformation
And thus, this is where things truly transform—this wave is about creating entirely new systems and redefining existing markets.
We have seen this level of change with digital disruptors like Uber, Airbnb, Netflix, and others, who used the leading tech of its time to build new categories from the ground up.
Early AI applications often mimic existing structures—just like how digital newspapers started out as PDFs of the printed version—, but the full effects of AI will come when we start creating personalized news feeds, dynamic experiences, and new business models that wouldn’t have existed without AI.
Product development across the three ways
Take product design as an example:
Initially, AI might be used to analyze customer insights faster (Wave 1) or generate better resources for human-led product innovation (Wave 2).
But thinking towards Wave 3, you might envision an autonomous product engine that continuously tests and deploys new features, ultimately skipping the traditional process of gathering customer insights altogether.
Learn how to create competitive advantage with an AI-powered innovation engine
This is why it’s crucial to maintain a vision for Wave 3 and evaluate whether your current investments will still be relevant in the future. We advocate for a forward-thinking approach:
“What you invest in today should build towards what matters tomorrow.”
It’s important to understand that success in the first wave doesn’t guarantee success in the third.
From a strategic perspective, it’s absolutely crucial to think about what the third wave might look like for your industry and plan your AI strategies with a vision for all three waves, ensuring that investments made today help build towards transformative opportunities tomorrow. Invest across all three waves, with a clear vision for the third wave in mind.
Set your AI strategy
As you look at setting a future-proof, winning AI Strategy, our webinar is the perfect place to start. Get a taste by learning about the outside-in and future-back approaches:
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