In case you didn’t already know, AI is here to stay.
According to a broad new survey of 2,360 senior executives worldwide, companies expect to spend approximately 1.7% of their revenue on AI investments this year. That would more than double the 0.8% average for 2025.
Every industry tracked in the study, conducted by Boston Consulting Group, plans to increase its AI spending, led by technology companies, which expect to allocate 2.1% of their revenue to it.
What’s more, companies are willing to be patient. Only 6% of the executives said they would pull back on AI investments if current initiatives don’t pay off in 2026.
Of course, significant concerns about using AI remain, although the top ones seem to be receding a bit. Just more than half (53%) of those polled cited data privacy and cybersecurity as a top-three risk, although that was down 12 percentage points from BCG’s similar survey a year ago.
Similarly, 41% placed lack of control or understanding of AI decisions as a top-three concern, down from 48% last year. Regulatory and compliance challenges declined from 44% to 39%.
At the same time, some other concerns are gaining ground. Technology failure was a top worry for 38% of the surveyed executives, 6 percentage points more than last year, and the environmental impact of AI leaped to 17% from 7%.
Another takeaway from the research is that transforming companies through AI has moved from a CIO-led initiative to one directed by CEOs. Almost three-fourths (72%) of the 640 chief executives who participated in the survey said they are the main decision-maker on AI in their organization — double last year’s proportion.
In fact, half of the CEOs said they believe their job stability depends on getting AI investments and strategy right. And they’re not alone in that plight: 60% said they believe that by 2030, more than half of the roles in their organization, including the C-suite, will be gone or transformed by AI.
However, there is a clear geographical divide: CEOs in the East are much more confident that AI will pay off than are their Western counterparts.
Additionally, many more Western CEOs said they feel pressured to act on AI or risk falling behind, compared with those on the East side of the globe, who were much more likely to be driven by confidence that AI will deliver an acceptable ROI.
