Book excerpt: AI may be the greatest opportunity of our time, with the potential to add nearly $16 trillion to the global economy over the next decade. But so far, adoption has been much slower than anticipated, or so headlines may lead you to believe. With this practical guide, business leaders will discover where they are in their AI journey and learn the steps necessary to successfully scale AI throughout their organization. Authors Rob Thomas and Paul Zikopoulos from IBM introduce C-suite executives and business professionals to the AI Ladder—a unified, prescriptive approach to help them understand and accelerate the AI journey. Complete with real-world examples and real-life experiences, this book explores AI drivers, value, and opportunity, as well as the adoption challenges organizations face. Understand why you can’t have AI without an information architecture (IA) Appreciate how AI is as much a cultural change as it is a technological one Collect data and make it simple and accessible, regardless of where it lives Organize data to create a business-ready analytics foundation Analyze data, and build and scale AI with trust and transparency Infuse AI throughout your entire business and create intelligent workflows