New findings from ZEDEDA and its inaugural Edge AI survey reveals that Edge artificial intelligence (AI) adoption is rapidly expanding across industries. The research, conducted by Censuswide, demonstrates that 97% of CIOs have Edge AI either already deployed or on their roadmap, with only 3% reporting no current plans to implement these technologies.
“The findings confirm what we’re seeing across industries—Edge AI is no longer just a future consideration but an essential component of digital transformation strategies today,” said Said Ouissal, CEO and Founder of ZEDEDA. “As a natural evolution of Edge computing, Edge AI enhances the data processing capabilities already made possible at the Edge, enabling organisations to significantly improve customer experience, operational efficiency and security in ways that Cloud-only approaches cannot match.”
The survey of 301 US CIOs found that 30% of organisations have fully deployed AI at the Edge, 22% are actively in production with limited deployment and 34% are testing with plans to deploy within the next 24 months. This widespread adoption spans industries, with retail (50%) and manufacturing (40%) leading in full deployments.
Customer experience applications currently dominate Edge AI implementations, with 80% of CIOs deploying Edge AI for use cases that enhance the customer experience, such as retail store operations, display personalisation and quality control. Risk management applications follow closely at 77%, including predictive maintenance, safety compliance, anomaly detection and physical security.
Planned deployments for 2025-2026 show a shift in priorities, with cost reduction (74%) and risk management (73%) leading future implementations. This indicates that organisations increasingly focus on operational efficiencies and risk mitigation after initial customer-facing deployments.
Industry differences are noticeable, with 93% of retail CIOs implementing Edge AI for customer experience, compared with 80% across all industries. Manufacturing strongly focuses on process acceleration for future deployments (82% vs. 68% overall), highlighting industry-specific optimisation needs.
The survey also reveals that multimodal AI—which combines speech, text and vision capabilities—is the most commonly deployed AI model at the Edge (60%) and in the Cloud (59%). This indicates that organisations are seeking comprehensive AI solutions that can process and analyse data across multiple formats simultaneously.
While Large Language Models (LLMs) are equally popular in the Cloud (59%), they witness less adoption at the Edge (47%), which could reflect computational requirements or use case needs. In retail, CIOs reported lower interest in Edge-deployed LLMs (32%) but higher adoption of multimodal AI (68%).
Security considerations play a dual role in Edge AI adoption. Improving security and data privacy is the primary motivation for Edge AI investments (53%), followed by improving customer experience (42%) and optimising operational efficiency (39%).
However, security risks and data protection concerns also represent the largest implementation challenge (42%), followed by high operational and maintenance costs (40%). Other significant challenges include finding the right technology vendors and partners (37%) and a shortage of talent with Edge AI expertise (37%).
Most organisations (54%) report that Edge AI complements their Cloud AI strategy for a hybrid approach. Nearly half (48%) are exploring Edge AI specifically to reduce Cloud computing costs, while 44% consider Edge AI essential for real-time processing and low-latency requirements.
“Rather than viewing Edge and Cloud AI as competing approaches, organizations increasingly recognise them as complementary parts of a unified strategy. Edge AI spans a continuum—from embedded systems within factories and other locations to Edge data centres that are closer to users and devices—enabling real-time, localized intelligence,” said Ouissal. “By combining this with the Cloud’s strength in large-scale analytics and model training, businesses can unlock faster, more efficient and context-aware AI capabilities.”
Edge AI’s strategic importance is reflected in rising budgets, with 90% of CIOs reporting increases for 2025. Three in ten (30%) organisations are significantly increasing Edge AI budgets by 25% or more, while 60% report moderate increases of up to 25%.
Larger businesses (500+ employees) are more aggressive in their investments, with 39% reporting significant budget increases compared to 23% of mid-sized organizations (250-500 employees).
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