Most companies still can't turn their AI spending into real business value. Only 13 percent of respondents report major or transformative returns from AI, according to a Gartner survey of 2,002 CIOs and other technology leaders presented at the Gartner IT Symposium in Orlando.
58 percent of CIOs are tasked with delivering cost savings through AI, yet 51 percent expect AI to raise total operating costs for their tech stack. 44 percent of CEOs struggle to demonstrate AI-driven financial returns to stakeholders. Gartner analyst Alicia Mullery sees a growing gap between the "innovation race" vendors are running and the "outcomes race" companies need to win. The companies that succeed decide early which projects are worth pursuing and which to shut down, even those already in production. They also plan proactively for how AI agents will reshape job roles.
Not everyone shares the impatience. Bloomberg CEO Vlad Kliatchko says it's too early to measure AI's economic payoff. His company is investing because it believes this is the right moment. Yet even with uncertain returns, 75 percent of CEOs plan to increase their technology spending, according to Gartner.
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