CEOs Plan to Increase AI Spending in 2026 Despite Weak Returns on Current Investments

CEOs Want to Keep Pouring Money Into AI, Despite Weak Returns: Survey

CEOs at the world’s biggest companies are preparing to dump even more money into AI next year, despite mounting evidence that their existing investments aren’t actually paying off. The Wall Street Journal reported today that 68% of chief executives plan to increase AI spending in 2026, citing an annual survey of more than 350 public-company CEOs conducted by advisory firm Teneo. Bewilderingly, those same executives admitted that fewer than half of their current AI projects have generated returns that exceeded their initial costs. The survey focused on CEOs at public companies with at least $1 billion in annual revenue and was conducted this fall. The survey's findings arrive as fears of an AI bubble continue to rise. AI investments now account for roughly 40% of U.S. GDP growth in 2025, and AI companies are responsible for about 80% of gains in the American stock market. Despite the U.S. economy becoming more dependent on AI, there is surprisingly little to show for it as of now, even in small ways at non-AI corporations. Wall Street analysts have increasingly noted the circular nature of major AI investments. For example, Nvidia announced this year that it is investing $100 million in OpenAI, which then turns around and buys Nvidia chips for data centers it has planned with Oracle. Making things worse, those data centers have been slow to materialize. Reports that Oracle is delaying some of its data center projects have only heightened Wall Street’s anxiety, as they push any tangible payoffs further into the future. Meanwhile, AI companies continue to promise that more advanced models will unlock significant productivity gains, spark innovation, and maybe even help cure diseases. Non-AI companies have already started putting the tech to the test, rolling out AI tools across various departments including customer service, IT, marketing, and human resources. But there’s still little evidence that even in those spaces AI tools are transforming operations or even meaningfully improving bottom lines. Today’s survey echoes a report released by MIT in August. Despite the major push to adopt AI in the corporate world, fewer than one in ten AI pilot programs have produced real revenue gains, the report found. The MIT analysis drew from 150 executive interviews, a survey of 350 employees, and a review of 300 public AI deployments. “Just 5% of integrated AI pilots are extracting millions in value, while the vast majority remain stuck with no measurable [profit and loss] impact,†the report said. Meaning that “95 per cent of organizations are getting zero return.†The findings briefly rattled investors and sent AI stocks sliding at the time. And yet, CEOs still appear convinced that AI will eventually justify the spending spree. According to Teneo's survey, 84% of leaders at companies with more than $10 billion in annual revenue believe it will take longer than six months for AI investments to start paying off.

The two visions for AI driving executives and Wall Street apart

Why it matters: Wall Street is tired of waiting for returns on all this AI investment. Based on these survey results, that impatience could leave investors disappointed in 2026. What they're saying: "AI spending is set to rise again in 2026, with 68% of CEOs planning to increase their investment," said Ursula Burns, chairwoman of Teneo. * "Investors, however, are becoming increasingly impatient for ROI [return on investment] on these AI investments, creating a tension that will be important to watch in the year ahead," she added in the survey release. By the numbers: 53% of investors expect a return on AI investments over the next six months or less, while only 16% of large-cap CEOs surveyed said they could deliver in that window. * AI companies are on track to spend about $700 billion for 2025. * Fewer than half of current AI projects are ROI-positive, despite progress on internal efficiencies and customer-facing applications, according to Teneo. Zoom out: A demand for clarity on AI's return is made clear by recent market reactions to tech company earnings results and capex announcements. * Google's capex is equal to about 25% of its annual revenue, much less than Meta's spending, which is closer to half its annual revenue. * Shares of Alphabet, Google's parent, are up over 75% in the last six months, making it the best performer of the Magnificent 7, while Meta has stalled, down about 5% over the same period. * Investors are rewarding the tech players that are seen as efficient spenders in how they allocate capital to their AI ambitions. Yes, but: Part of the challenge is that it's difficult to define what returns on AI investment should look like. * "We are changing how humans work. And so how do we measure this... this is a major change that we don't even have tools yet to answer all those questions," Kasia Wakarecy, vice president at Pythian, told Axios at a recent expert voices roundtable lunch discussing the return on AI investment. The bottom line: Wall Street and the C-suite have different timelines in mind for the ROI on AI.

CEOs seem determined to keep spending on AI - despite mixed success

* Two-thirds of CEOs plan to increase AI spend in 2026, report claims * Most leaders agree entry-level and senior leadership roles could see a boost * Jobs are shifting, with a new emphasis on human-AI collaboration emerging Despite being widely linked to layoffs across all sectors, leaders actually see AI tools having a positive effect on jobs, with two in three public company CEOs surveyed in a recent Teneo report expecting AI to increase entry-level hiring in 2026. AI was initially met with heavy scepticism, but as the world transitioned from experimentation to implementation, companies are figuring out exactly where artificial intelligence can play a role in the workplace, and it's not bad news after all. It's not just entry-level roles that could see a boost - more than half (58%) of CEOs also expect growth in senior leadership roles. AI could lead to net job creation, after all On the whole, CEOs agree that AI is reconfiguring jobs by automating some tasks and creating new ones, rather than entirely eliminating human roles. New job titles, like decision designer and AI experience officer, are also emerging, highlighting a new era of human-AI collaboration. "It's not that AI is wiping out the workforce today - it's reshaping it," Teneo Global Head of AI Ryan Cox explained. Teneo's report (via Business Insider), which found two-thirds (68%) of CEOs plan to increase AI spending in 2026 (a minor two percentage point increase from last year). A consistency in AI spend projections, rather than a huge spike, comes amid ongoing apprehension over its success. So far, fewer than half of AI projects have generated returns exceeding their costs, and only half (53%) of investors expect AI investments to pay off within six months. Moreover, most (16%) CEOs don't agree that fast returns on investments are realistic, with areas like security, legal and HR lagging behind areas like marketing and customer service. Companies may also be looking to spend more on AI because not even one-third of(31%) expect global economic improvement in 2026, down from 51% last year, suggesting CEOs are looking to regain control over their success. Follow TechRadar on Google News and add us as a preferred source to get our expert news, reviews, and opinion in your feeds. Make sure to click the Follow button! And of course you can also follow TechRadar on TikTok for news, reviews, unboxings in video form, and get regular updates from us on WhatsApp too.

AI isn't delivering returns -- but that's not stopping CEOs from throwing money at it

An increasing number of companies are finding the much-promised financial gains of implementing artificial intelligence in the workplace have been slow to materialize. But that isn't stopping many CEOs from spending even more on AI in the coming year. A new study from advisory firm Teneo finds that 68% of CEOs will increase their AI spending next year. A growing number, however, are aware that they need to start showing returns on that investment - and an important part of their job is convincing shareholders to remain patient. "As efforts shift from hype to execution, businesses are under pressure to show ROI from rising AI spend," the company wrote. "Large-cap CEOs are seeing solid returns on current programs, particularly across administration, internal efficiency and customer-facing applications. However, 84% of these CEOs predict that positive returns from new AI initiatives will take longer than six months to achieve. In contrast, investors are pushing for faster impact: 53% expect positive ROI in six months or less." To date, less than half of the AI projects have generated returns that exceed the cost of the programs, according to 350-plus public-company CEOs surveyed by Teneo.