Why 80% of CEOs Feel Behind on AI

From AI Ready Podcast with Harrison Painter by Harrison Painter

April 29, 2026 · 41 min · Episode 93

About this episode

The episode discusses why many CEOs feel behind on AI despite data suggesting otherwise, featuring insights from Bryce Carpenter of Conexus Indiana.

Eighty percent of manufacturing leaders say they are behind their peers on AI. The math says that is impossible. So why does almost every CEO walk into a room believing the rest of the industry has already figured this out? Bryce Carpenter , COO at Conexus Indiana , sits on top of the data that explains it. Conexus runs the Advanced Industries Council, the state's primary convening body for the 9,700 manufacturing and logistics companies that produce 37 percent of Indiana's GDP. Bryce founded the AIC in 2019 and has watched 120-plus member companies move through the AI experimentation phase in real time. In this conversation with Harrison Painter, Bryce walks through what he is actually seeing. Why Indiana's $29 billion in 2024 manufacturing investment paired with a 1 percent drop in employment is a retirement story, not an AI displacement story. Why the average tenure inside Indiana manufacturing collapsed from 30 years to 3. How a 52-person Northeast Indiana shop grew to 106 after a single equipment investment. Why the 9,700 companies running their own boutique soft-skill development programs is the most expensive inefficiency in the state. And why he gives Indiana an A-minus…

People in this episode

Host: Harrison Painter

Guest: Bryce Carpenter

Topics covered

AI in manufacturing
CEO perceptions of AI
Indiana manufacturing investment
AI proficiency assessment
workforce changes
soft-skill development

Keywords

AI
CEOs
manufacturing
Indiana
workforce
investment
soft skills
proficiency assessment

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Conexus Indiana, Advanced Industries Council

Places: Indiana, Northeast Indiana