Productivity AI users outperform the S&P 500 by 29%

A new analysis from Read AI found that publicly-traded companies adopting productivity AI are outpacing the broader market. 

In a year-over-year comparison from July 2024 to July 2025, 217 companies in the S&P 500 with confirmed productivity AI usage reported a 17.2% increase in stock price. In the same time period, the S&P 500 grew 13.3%, a difference of nearly 3.9 percentage points, representing 29% faster gains.

Additionally, data shows that companies using productivity AI achieved more than twice the revenue gains. In 10-Q filings, these companies reported an average year-over-year revenue increase of 13.1%. For comparison, the S&P 500’s index-weighted average increase over the same period was 5.1%.

“This data makes a powerful case that productivity AI drives profitability and economic impact, proving that the value of AI adoption extends far beyond hype or market bubble,” says Read AI Co-Founder and CEO David Shim. “The companies embracing AI today will soon measure themselves against a new set of economic benchmarks. To achieve these outsized returns, enterprises will rely on integrated AI platforms that boost individual and team performance, built on a foundation of shared intelligence.”

“This study says it all,” says Doug Feldman, chief investment officer and head of investment strategy and advice at Stash, a leading investment app for everyday Americans. “AI is transforming every industry. This is exactly why diversification in investing is key.” 

Read AI's latest study is one of the first to illustrate that AI adoption can quickly drive productivity gains and economic impact across industries when it delivers proactive intelligence within workflows (e.g., recommendations, personalized AI assistance, enterprise search, always-on agentic features). Relative to the S&P 500, companies leading in this class of productivity AI adoption are most commonly found in financial services, healthcare, and consumer cyclical industries. On average, most began implementing integrated AI systems in the summer of 2024. The most engaged productivity AI users in the S&P 500 achieved the highest stock market gains, growing 45% faster than the S&P 500.

Top-performing companies share key behaviors including smaller meeting size and a preference for being on camera. These faster-pace, successful companies also show flexibility around attendance and tardiness, and schedule fewer meetings overall. On average, within the first months of productivity AI implementation, total meeting volume decreases by 20%, meeting attendees decrease by 33%, and employees save 20 hours a month with enterprise search.  
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Methodology:
In this study, the use of Read AI is a proxy for implementation of productivity AI. As one of the most widely used independent AI assistants in the enterprise market, serving more than 90% of the Fortune 500 and ranked one of the Top 50 AI Apps in the world and a Top 10 app for Enterprises, Read AI adoption provides a strong indicator of integrated AI deployment within business workflows.

To measure the impact of productivity AI on business performance, Read AI cross-referenced its customer list with the domains of S&P 500 companies and analyzed publicly available financial data. Stock price and revenue metrics for the Read AI cohort were calculated as equal-weighted averages, while S&P 500 data from YCharts was market-cap weighted. Several companies within the analysis reported highly profitable years and strong financial performance, with some seeing stock price gains exceeding well over 100%. Companies with revenue increases that surpassed 300% were removed to avoid skewing results. Of the 323 companies with available revenue data, 106 were excluded based on factors including missing growth values, revenue below $100,000, and extreme positive outliers.