Between a chatbot and the core of the business: the "paradox" of AI in companies

BarcelonaArtificial intelligence has already slipped into practically every crack of social life. In recent years, since the entry into play of the first versions of ChatGPT, experts and promoters of the technology have asserted that the ceiling for the implementation of AI solutions is exponential; and that the productivity gains they will generate in the short term are incommensurable with other technological disruptions. In a recent speech before Catalan business leaders, the president of Telefónica, Marc Murtra, asserted that "in thirty years in the world of technology, I had never seen such a rapid impact" as that of AI.

The Catalan productive world is a witness to this: a recent study by the agency for business growth of the Catalan government's Department of Business and Labor, Acció, confirmed that 30% of Catalan companies with more than nine employees incorporated AI into their productive arsenal throughout 2025. Another report, from the Catalan association of small and medium-sized enterprises, Pimec, went so far as to argue that "almost half of the companies are already using or piloting AI" in some dimension. "The Catalan SME has understood the relevance of the technology, and has initiated processes for adopting the tools available on the market. Its arrival is progressive; but AI is arriving," asserts Juanjo Berbel, president of the digitization and innovation commission of the association led by Antoni Cañete.

In conversation with ARA, however, Berbel tones down some of the euphoria: firstly, the application of AI is "irregular"; and one of the differentiating factors is the size of the business. With data from Pimec itself, just over half of the country's micro-enterprises plan to invest more in digital tools, while the ratio shoots up to 88% when asking medium-sized companies. And, in fact, one in five companies surveyed by the entity still denied any plans to introduce AI into key processes in the short term; "a by no means negligible percentage" in the eyes of the association representative. This blind spot, they lament from the business association, could contribute to "widening the competitive gap in the coming years".

The motives for AI

For the employers' representative, the pace of AI adoption among entrepreneurs, especially small and medium-sized ones, is not a matter of distrust. In his view, in fact, the business world "applies technology more than society in general." Nor is it a price barrier: while it is true that large companies have an easier time investing in these types of solutions, "subscription amounts are not a major barrier for SMEs." The problem lies in how it is used and, in fact, what real productivity and business gains companies achieve by integrating artificial intelligence.

In this sense, the head of innovation and business development at the Barcelona Supercomputing Center (BSC), Mariona Sanz, detects a "paradox" with the implementation of AI. "There is an easy, almost passive, usage that is very widespread. On the other hand, it remains to be seen what state strategic adoption is in"; that type of application usage that reliably improves business. "AI is moving very fast; but the uses that can truly transform businesses, which generate productivity gains, are somewhat in question," warns the expert.

Sanz, it must be said, does not distrust the capacity of AI to transform companies; although she considers that commercial applications have not yet reached that level of effectiveness: "AI still causes problems," she asserts.

A long road

For Berbel, the learning of the entrepreneurs themselves also has a substantial weight in widespread adoption. Although, for now, the solutions are not expensive, small and medium-sized businesses in the country cannot afford a very wide range of applications, "and it is often not entirely easy to choose between one tool or another". "There are tools that are very good, for example, in graphic design; but that do not do as well in sales models", reasons the Pimec representative. In this aspect, that of understanding exactly which AI lever to pull to improve the core of the business, Catalan entrepreneurs "are still at the beginning" of adoption. In this area, size also greatly marks the ability to find the appropriate uses: "small companies are still far from taking advantage of the full power of technology", indicates Berbel; while medium-sized ones "are already testing it, but not extensively".

It is precisely here, "where the core of the business is", where Sanz assures that "it pays to invest" in new technological solutions. "On the way there will be dysfunctions, but AI has a spectacular transformative potential", reiterates the expert. For his part, Berbel links the sense of AI implementation to these strategic "usage objectives" that the businesses themselves must detect. "Perhaps it makes more sense to concentrate use where it is most necessary, and not extend it to all employees of the company", for example. However, in his opinion, the wheel is already turning, and trying to stop it would be counterproductive: "We cannot put gates on the field. AI has a path within companies, and SMEs cannot be left behind".