good morning. Value accountability for AI typically falls on the chief data analytics officer or chief AI officer, says Laks Srinivasan, co-founder and CEO of Return on AI Institute. But companies tend to derive more value when CFOs are responsible for overseeing AI projects and scoring results, he said.
Mr. Srinivasan, an expert in AI strategy, is co-author of the study “The Economic Maturity of Artificial Intelligence” with Thomas H. Davenport, Babson College Professor, MIT Fellow, and co-founder of the Return on AI Institute. The findings are based on a survey of 1,006 executives from 11 countries and 32 industries, as well as interviews with technology, data, and AI leaders.
Only 2% of respondents said their CFO is responsible for realizing value from AI. However, when CFOs are responsible, 76% achieve significant value, significantly higher than other roles. Srinivasan said CFOs don’t necessarily know more about AI than chief AI officers or other executives. Finance executives can develop methodologies and scale them across the enterprise. “When finance is involved, it brings institutional credibility behind the numbers,” he said.
At several companies surveyed, CFOs and finance teams partnered with technology executives to qualify the value of AI. “For example, at DBS Bank in Singapore, divisional CFOs are responsible for vetting the value of AI before incorporating it into the enterprise,” Srinivasan said. “And DBS Bank says it has created about S$1 billion of economic value through its data analytics and AI efforts, and that’s because the CFO is involved,” he said.
Return on AI Institute was founded about five years ago and partners with Scaled Agile, Inc. on thought leadership and AI upskilling. Another key finding is that generative AI is the most difficult type to establish value, cited by 44% of respondents, likely due to the challenge of measuring the productivity of “broad and shallow” use cases.
Agent AI is second at 24%, followed by analytical AI at 16%, but rule-based AI is the least difficult. Despite this, 35% of companies that have implemented agent AI report high value.
“I think we all see value in terms of personal productivity,” Srinivasan says. He said the challenge is to convert that into corporate value.
His advice is to get the finances involved. If your team tracks different metrics, aggregate them. “It may not be science, there may be some art involved, but it has to be done,” he says.
Another recommendation: AI upskilling for everyone. There is a 23-point advantage in achieving high value when both employees and leaders are trained, yet 58% of organizations do not train employees on basic AI usage.
As for the impact on employees, only 2% of organizations surveyed used AI to make large-scale layoffs, but nearly 90% cut or froze hiring in anticipation. “Clearly, the layoffs and hiring freezes are far ahead of the evidence,” Srinivasan said. Adopting AI also requires significant organizational changes.
He recommends “narrow and deep AI,” which rethinks certain processes for the AI era. Rather than layering AI onto existing workflows, the question is what can be automated and what still requires human judgment.
“If we do all the work, we can actually create a solid rationale to say, ‘This is the kind of people we really need,'” Srinivasan said.
Have a nice weekend.
Cheryl estrada
sheryl.estrada@fortune.com
leader board
Notable developments this week:
Kieran Kelliher Appointed CFO of the NBA’s Dallas Mavericks. Kelliher joins the Mavericks after 12 years in similar roles with the Chicago Bulls and Chicago Bulls Charities. During his tenure, he led the Bulls’ efforts to host the NBA All-Star Game in 2020 and spearheaded the launch of a G League franchise (Windy City Bulls) in 2016.
Brittany Cerwin He has been promoted immediately to CFO of The Middleby Corporation (NASDAQ: MIDD), a food service equipment company. Cerwin will replace Brian Mittelman, who has served as CFO since 2019 and will transition to special advisor to the CEO. Cerwin joined Middleby in 2011 and has held several leadership roles in the financial sector. Most recently, she served as Chief Accounting Officer. Prior to that, he served as a corporate controller.
Chelsea Lantz has been appointed interim CFO of Nu Skin Enterprises, Inc. (NYSE: NUS), a global beauty and wellness company, effective immediately. Mr. Lantz’s appointment comes after James Thomas resigned as CFO to pursue external opportunities. Mr. Lantz joined Nu Skin in 2011 and has been working as an executive manager since 2023. Nu Skin’s Board of Directors has begun the formal process to appoint a permanent CFO.
rob cooperDavid’s Bridal’s CFO has stepped down after 20 years at David’s after overseeing the transition to interim CFO. David’s has begun a search for a new CFO to expand the company’s growth strategy and support the continued expansion of its “Aisle to Algorithms” platform across both B2C and B2B efforts.
james suba Mr. Suba was appointed Chief Financial Officer (CFO) of Velo3D, Inc. (NASDAQ: VELO), a metal 3D printing technology company, effective April 6. Suba will succeed Bernard Chan, who has been acting chief financial officer since December 31. Mr. Chan will continue to serve as the company’s executive manager. Suba has over 20 years of experience in capital markets and technology, most recently serving as SVP and Head of Finance at Cricut.
Meir Peleg Mr. Peleg was appointed CFO of IceCure Medical, Inc. (NASDAQ: ICCM), a developer of minimally invasive cryoablation technology, effective May 17. Mr. Peleg is an experienced public company CFO with over 20 years of financial leadership experience. He has led a Nasdaq IPO and multiple major financings while growing a global industrial technology organization.
Parmeet Ahuja Mr. Ahuja was appointed chief financial officer (CFO) of MaxCyte, Inc. (NASDAQ: MXCT), a company specializing in cell engineering, effective March 30. Mr. Ahuja replaces Douglas Swirski, who is moving from his previously announced role in November. Ahuja has over 20 years of financial leadership experience. Most recently, she served as Vice President of Investor Relations at Agilent Technologies.
big deal
As AI transforms the workplace, it’s increasingly appearing on resumes, according to Monster’s AI Resume Trends Report. The percentage of resumes with at least one AI-related term jumped from just 3.7% in 2023 to 12.8% in 2025.
This means that Monster has found that 1 in 8 resumes includes at least one AI term. This highlights that professionals point to AI fluency as a career advantage.
2025 will be a clear acceleration point. Growth from 2024 to 2025 (+7.6 points) exceeded growth from 2023 to 2024 (+1.5 points).
Additionally, employees are increasingly emphasizing fundamental expertise in AI. In 2025, 6.3% of resumes will feature artificial intelligence, up from just 0.5% in 2023. Meanwhile, machine learning increased from 0.6% to 5.7%.
even deeper
here are four luck Weekend articles:
“Meth and YouTube just suffered a legal devastation over tech addiction. In this rehab facility for addicted teens and adults, tech addiction is treated like heroin.” — Kristin Stoller
“Dow CEO warns petrochemical shortages due to Iran war could accelerate inflation for the rest of the year” – Jordan Blum
“Meetings aren’t work, says Southwest Airlines CEO, so he’s taking action by blocking his calendar every afternoon Wednesday through Friday.” – Preston Foer
“New York is home to 154 billionaires, who are collectively worth $975.7 billion and some earn $2 million an hour.” —Emma Burley
overheard
“Do college degrees still have value? Yes, but only if the university is up to the task. In the age of AI, a degree matters more than what the student actually did to earn it.”
— Jerry Valentine, an osteopathic physician and president of the New York Institute of Technology, writes: luck An opinion piece titled “College degrees aren’t dead. But getting the wrong kind of degree could cost you $2 million.”
