What happened
Deloitte's global survey of 985 infrastructure executives across 21 countries (government, private sector, and not-for-profit) finds physical and digital infrastructure have merged into an interdependent 'system-of-systems,' with AI emerging as the core operating layer. Headline findings: 69% of leaders expect rising demand for smart, connected infrastructure; 61% cite predictive maintenance as the leading current AI use case, expected to broaden into energy demand forecasting (44%) and supply chain logistics (40%); and 60% of government respondents rank cybersecurity as their highest critical-infrastructure investment priority, while only 33% prioritize climate resilience despite 56% naming extreme weather as the greatest threat. The survey identifies complex policies, regulation and permitting (39%) as the top delivery barrier and notes 34% cite AI/cybersecurity talent gaps as a top barrier to scaling AI, concluding 'AI has moved beyond experimentation, but scaling AI requires broader capabilities.' Quantitative survey methodology is disclosed (985 executives, 21 countries, four infrastructure sectors).
Why it matters
Much AI value in the physical world now hinges on infrastructure 'system-of-systems' maturity; the report gives leaders a data-backed case for pairing AI adoption with data-governance, cybersecurity and talent foundations.
Action needed
Map the survey's AI scaling barriers (talent, data, governance) against your own connected-infrastructure AI programs and address the cybersecurity-vs-resilience investment imbalance it documents.