Companies are investing in artificial intelligence, but many have yet to show that the spending produces substantial business value. A Gartner survey of 2,002 CIOs and other technology leaders found that only 13 percent of respondents report major or transformative returns from AI.
Cost-saving goals meet higher expected costs
The survey points to a tension in how businesses approach AI. While 58 percent of CIOs are tasked with delivering cost savings through AI, 51 percent expect AI to increase total operating costs for their technology stack.
That gap makes it difficult to treat AI adoption as an automatic route to efficiency. The expectation of savings exists alongside the possibility of added costs, so companies have to assess whether individual projects are producing enough value to justify their expense.
For leaders, the challenge is not only whether AI can be used, but whether its contribution can be made clear. The survey suggests that businesses are still working to connect AI initiatives with results that matter to the organization.
Showing returns remains a leadership challenge
Financial evidence is also a concern at the executive level. According to the survey, 44 percent of CEOs struggle to demonstrate AI-driven financial returns to stakeholders.
That difficulty can complicate decisions about continued investment. When returns are hard to demonstrate, leaders may find it harder to explain why a project should continue, expand, or receive resources instead of other priorities.
Gartner analyst Alicia Mullery describes a growing gap between the “innovation race” vendors are running and the “outcomes race” companies need to win. The distinction captures a practical problem: activity around new AI capabilities does not, on its own, establish that a company is getting meaningful results.
Decide early what deserves to continue
The companies that succeed, the article says, make early decisions about which projects are worth pursuing and which should be shut down. That review can include projects already in production, rather than treating launch as a reason to keep a system running indefinitely.
This approach puts continued investment on a project-by-project footing. It asks companies to examine whether an initiative is delivering the outcome they sought and to stop work when it is not worth pursuing. The survey’s findings give that discipline added relevance as leaders balance demands for savings against expectations of higher technology costs.
Planning for changes to work is another part of the challenge. Companies that succeed also prepare proactively for how AI agents will reshape job roles. That means considering the effect on roles as part of AI planning, rather than focusing only on the technology itself.
Investment plans continue despite uncertain payoff
There is no universal view that businesses should already be able to measure AI’s economic payoff. Bloomberg CEO Vlad Kliatchko says it is too early to measure that payoff. His company is investing because it believes this is the right moment.
That position sits alongside the survey’s evidence of uncertainty: substantial returns are reported by a small share of respondents, and many CEOs have trouble demonstrating financial results. Yet uncertainty has not halted technology spending plans. According to Gartner, 75 percent of CEOs plan to increase their technology spending.
The figures describe a business environment in which investment continues while proof of value remains difficult. For companies, the practical task is to connect AI spending to outcomes, weigh costs against expected benefits, and make clear decisions about which initiatives should move forward.