7 Insights on Organizational AI Adoption: Israel vs. the World

AI, Applied — Israel Benchmarks report compares how organizations in Israel implement AI with their global peers and provides practical takeaways for executives and founders.

The report is a joint collaboration of Georgian, Startup Nation Central, and Herzog Fox & Neeman.

Globally AI adoption is pointed internally in organizations; in Israel it is more tied to growth

23% of Israeli organizations chose “major markets expansion” as their No. 1 priority for AI. Outside Israel, the top priorities: improving internal efficiency (19%) and building new models or products (17%)

Adoption in Israel leads in technology functions, but lags in most business functions

Engineering, Product, and R&D show stronger adoption in Israel. In other corporate functions, Israeli organizations trail their global peers. Market‑research usage is broadly similar to the rest of the world

Motivations for adopting AI are similar in Israel and worldwide

Organizations primarily adopt AI to improve team productivity and create competitive advantage. In Israel, 27% focus on increasing team productivity, and 19% on creating competitive advantage (similar shares globally).

Customer‑facing use cases are an untapped opportunity for Israeli companies

Overall R&D usage in Israel resembles the rest of the world, but adoption is lower in customer‑service chatbots, personalization and recommendation systems, and sentiment analysis. These are clear growth areas for Israeli teams.

While most of the world is focused on bottom-line efficiency and cost-cutting, Israel’s “Startup Nation” mentality is all about growth, aiming to expand the top line. With access to exceptional talent and an AI-native culture, Israel has the potential to become a global leader in building transformative companies, leveraging AI as a driver of measurable impact.

In Israeli R&D, model and access to talent are less of a barrier

Israeli R&D leaders report model costs and access to talent as less significant barriers compared with their global peers.

Build vs. buy looks similar to the rest of the world

Israeli R&D teams, like their global peers, commonly buy third‑party solutions and build in‑house. No meaningful gap appears in the approach.

Earlier movement on agentic AI capabilities in Israel

More Israeli companies report that agentic capabilities are already implemented and expanding, with over one‑fifth stating these capabilities are in place and being broadened.