Nearly half of CEOs globally (45%) believe their company will not be viable in ten years if it stays on its current path, this was up from the 39% who had said so in the previous year, according to PwC 27^th Annual Global CEO Survey.

This year’s survey, which polled 4,702 CEOs worldwide, also showed more optimism about global economic growth than last year.

The intensification of CEO worries about corporate viability does not appear to reflect near-term economic concerns. For example, CEOs are less likely than they were a year ago to anticipate a decline in global economic growth, and much more likely to expect growth will improve in 2024 (38% compared to 18% last year).

CEOs are also slightly less confident than last year in their own company’s prospects for revenue growth, over both the next 12 months and the next three years.

According to the survey, technological disruption, climate change and other accelerating global megatrends continue to compel CEOs to adapt, as 97% of respondents have taken some steps to change how they create, deliver and capture value over the past five years. During that span, 76% of CEOs took at least one action that had a large or very large impact on their company’s business model.

Meanwhile, inflation remains the top concern for CEOs in the US, for example, despite receding in terms of expected exposure for global CEOs overall. Similarly, geopolitical threats are still among the top concerns for CEOs in Central and Eastern Europe, as well as the Middle East, despite receding for global CEOs overall. This may be because companies have already been taking measures to insulate themselves from the effects of some conflicts—and the full impact of others is still unclear. In Western Europe, CEOs are most concerned about cyber risk over the next 12 months—that’s especially true in France and Germany, where it’s perceived as the top threat. US CEOs also rank exposure to cyber risk high on their list of concerns.

The survey also showed that, among climate actions that CEOs say they aren’t likely to take, are two with big societal implications. The first, upskilling or reskilling the workforce, is an important part of ensuring a just transition to a net-zero economy, PwC states. The second is investing in nature-based climate solutions as PwC estimates that 55% of global GDP, equivalent to about US$58 trillion—is moderately or highly dependent on nature.

CEOs in this year’s survey also appear to believe in both the fast pace of generative AI adoption and its outsized potential for disruption. For example, over the next year, about half of CEOs expect generative AI to enhance their ability to build trust with stakeholders, and about 60% expect it to improve product or service quality.

Within the next three years, nearly seven in ten respondents also anticipate generative AI will increase competition, drive changes to their business models and require new skills from their workforce. So far, experience apparently buoys expectations. CEOs who say they have adopted generative AI across their company (about one-third of our sample) are significantly more likely than others to anticipate its transformative potential over the next 12 months, as well as over the next three years.

One-third of CEOs also expect generative AI to increase bias towards specific groups of employees or customers in the next 12 months. Almost as many disagree, suggesting bias is likely to be an area of growing attention as the scope and complexity of generative AI’s role in business expands.

Overall, CEOs anticipate many positive near-term business impacts from generative AI. These include applications that increase revenues, such as through improved product quality and customer trust, as well as those that boost efficiency.