Only a quarter of AI initiatives have so far met their anticipated return on investment ( ROI), according to a recent IBM study, and 16 % have successfully scaled AI across the enterprise despite rapid investment and growing competition pressure.
Despite this, the majority of CEOs also support AI, believing that it is essential for long-term success, with the majority anticipating profitable results by 2027. According to IBM Vice Chairman Gary Cohn, “leaders who don’t use AI and their own information efficiently choose not to engage.”
Directors continue to invest in AI despite receiving subpar results.
According to the 2025 IBM CEO Study, 2, 000 Executives from 24 different locations and 24 sectors responded to the survey, the majority of leaders continue to invest in AI even though only a small percentage of projects achieve the expected returns.
CEOs continue to give priority to AI as a key driver of future growth, with 77 % predicting a positive result in scaled AI growth and expansion by 2027 and 85 % anticipating a positive ROI in scaled efficiency and cost savings.
The adoption of relational AI and AI brokers is growing faster.
According to the IBM study, 61 % of CEOs are actively adopting and preparing to use AI agents scale, believing that AI is essential to maintaining their position in the market.
This widespread adoption is a result of IBM’s recent news that the “era of AI research is over,” as businesses transition from small-scale tests to incorporating AI agents into routine operations to improve modeling, agility, and decision-making across the organization.
What’s stopping AI from paying off?
stifled software and information environments
Many businesses still deal with fragmented data and disconnected business functions, which impede the impact of AI. Leading CEOs solve this by integrating end-to-end workflows and creating a unified data culture, which is essential for unlocking AI’s complete worth across teams, according to a new analysis.
Privacy and security
As businesses expand the use of artificial intelligence, security and data protection continue to be among the best issues, sharing the concerns of security professionals. According to the IBM survey, one of the best CEO objectives for 2025 is increased security and data privacy.
measuring ROI difficult.
Many leaders struggle to quantify and attribute AI investments to successful business results, a challenge that other businesses across sectors even face. Some industry leaders, however, hold the possibility of a tangible AI-driven ROI, especially for those who invested early and made the appropriate use cases.
The journey to AI ROI
According to the IBM Study, leaders who are willing to take proper risks and use their data to gain will be the ones who will see AI’s whole payoff. According to IBM, Executives who hold may be choosing not to thrive because they don’t really miss out on productivity increases.
In the end, AI’s value will be determined by the smart decisions, not just the strong ones.
