- Only 13% of respondents report major or transformative returns from AI, according to a Gartner survey of 2,002 CIOs and technology leaders presented at the Gartner IT Symposium in Orlando, The Decoder reported October 22, 2026.
- 58% of CIOs are tasked with delivering cost savings through AI, yet 51% expect AI to raise their total technology operating costs instead.
- 44% of CEOs say they struggle to demonstrate AI-driven financial returns to stakeholders, even as 75% plan to increase technology spending regardless.
- Gartner analyst Alicia Mullery says there’s a growing gap between the “innovation race” vendors are running and the “outcomes race” companies actually need to win.
What Happened
Gartner’s survey of 2,002 CIOs and technology leaders found that just 13% report major or transformative business returns from their AI investments, despite most companies continuing to increase AI spending, according to The Decoder’s report on the findings presented at the Gartner IT Symposium.
Why It Matters
The gap between spending and measurable payoff is widening pressure on technology leaders: 58% of CIOs are explicitly tasked with cutting costs through AI, yet a slim majority, 51%, instead expect AI to raise their overall technology operating costs. The finding echoes earlier MIT Sloan data showing 88% of companies use AI but only 39% have it actually working in production.
Technical Details
Gartner analyst Alicia Mullery attributes the shortfall to a mismatch between an “innovation race” that vendors are running and an “outcomes race” that companies need to win instead. Gartner found that companies seeing real returns tend to decide early which AI projects are worth pursuing, including shutting down ones already in production that aren’t delivering value.
Who’s Affected
CEOs face the sharpest scrutiny: 44% say they struggle to show stakeholders that AI spending is paying off financially. The pattern lines up with other research finding that multi-agent AI teams can waste large amounts of compute for barely measurable quality gains, adding to the difficulty of proving returns.
What’s Next
Not every executive shares the urgency: Bloomberg CEO Vlad Kliatchko said it’s too early to measure AI’s economic payoff and that his company is investing because it believes this is the right moment. Even so, 75% of CEOs told Gartner they plan to increase technology spending regardless of near-term returns.
