As companies move toward 2026, artificial intelligence adoption is expected to enter a pivotal new phase, one that will be less about experimentation and more about accountability, governance, and measurable business impact.
Business leaders will face increased pressure to enhance their AI investment strategies over the coming year after many organizations’ efforts to date have yielded mixed results, according to consulting giants KPMG and PricewaterhouseCoopers.
“It doesn’t matter whether it’s the right thing to invest in AI or not,” Swami Chandrasekaran, global head of AI and data lab at KPMG, said in an interview. “It’s about how you actually unlock value and how you measure it.”
According to Gartner, global spending on AI is expected to reach a total of $2.52 trillion in 2026, an increase of 44% year over year.
Only 12% of CEOs They say AI has become a reality. According to research released this month by PwC, there are both cost and revenue benefits. Overall, 33% of respondents reported an increase in either costs or revenues, while 56% said they have not seen significant financial benefits so far.
“2026 is shaping up to be a defining year for AI,” Mohamed Khande, PwC Global Chairman, said in a statement about the study, adding that “only a small number of companies are already turning AI into measurable economic benefits.”
What a difference a year can make
With the promise of automating complex tasks and making decisions with minimal human input for 2025, agent AI has quickly gained traction as a game-changing technology following the explosive rise of chatbots like ChatGPT.
Now, some data shows signs that at least some of the initial investment frenzy surrounding both technologies may have subsided in recent months.
of Agent AI adoption rate According to KPMG survey results released on January 15, the percentage fell to 26% in the fourth quarter, down from 42% three months earlier.
Chandrasekaran said this likely indicates an increased focus on high-quality investments and does not necessarily reflect waning interest.
“This moment of realization is happening because deploying this technology is not child’s play,” he told CFO Dive. “This is actually a good thing if you want to pause and make sure you have all the right foundations in place before you start extending these kinds of tools.”
Meanwhile, asset management firm Apollo Global Management released an analysis of Census Bureau data in September. AI in general was on a downward trend Even among large companies.
OpenAI CFO Sarah Friar In a blog post on Jan. 18, ChatGPT owners said they will focus on promoting the “practical application” of AI this year.
“The priority is to close the gap between what AI can do and how people, businesses, and nations use it every day,” she writes.
These statements show that even the most prominent AI companies recognize the benefits of this technology. The hype cycle is breaking Taking Accountability to the Next Level – John Knisely, Global Process AI Leader, Austin, Texas-based AI Company Abby told TechNewsWorld.
“The organization is impressed and ready to benefit,” Knisley said, according to the Jan. 21 report.
A “higher bar” for AI spending
Steve Bailey, CFO of Match Group, which operates dating apps such as Tinder and Hinge, said: Setting a “higher hurdle” He spoke to CFO Dive last month about the company’s approval process for AI spending. He is now calling for “a business case for clear impact in the form of either cost savings or efficiency gains” for material spending on AI tools.
“I think a lot of CFOs like myself have to balance where to focus and where to invest to drive long-term growth and shareholder value,” Bailey said. “If you give AI a blank check, it becomes very difficult to do that.”
Bill Koefoed, CFO of financial software maker OneStream, said major U.S. software companies have quantified the ROI of implementing AI in departments such as engineering.
“We’ve increased the efficiency of our R&D team by 39% as a result of using AI tools, so there’s a real ROI there,” he told CFO Dive in an interview. “The same goes for call centers. I think we and other companies are seeing much greater efficiency there and seeing incredible ROI.”
However, other areas, such as marketing and sales, may find it harder to generate returns from AI investments, he said.
CFOs face increasing pressure from boards and investors. Get results from your AI investmentswhile also overcoming significant hurdles, OneStream said in a report last October.
The study also found that AI is driving deeper collaboration across the C-suite, with half of CFOs saying their relationship with their chief technology officer or chief information officer is becoming more strategic.
“A big part of the CFO’s role is not to take big risks,” Koeford said, adding that some finance leaders are waiting for AI tools to become easier to use “before they hit the gas pedal.”
Deloitte, a Big Four accounting and consulting firm, is among a growing list of organizations that have come under intense public scrutiny after AI-related debacles in recent years. According to news reported last fall, Deloitte Australia We had to partially refund the Australian government for an error-filled document generated by our AI.
The risks are especially high when it comes to business functions such as finance. Handle sensitive dataaccording to a blog post published by Workday last year.
Implementation challenges
With pressure mounting on multiple fronts, the leadership teams of companies investing in AI need to operate in a more strategic, disciplined and coordinated manner, with the CFO playing a central role, experts told CFO Dive.
Below are five key AI implementation challenges that CFOs and their executive team partners are expected to face in the year ahead.
1. ROI ambiguity
This year, we expect to see increased efforts to define, measure, and track the return on investment of AI.
“This is not a question of whether AI can add value to me,” Chandrasekaran said. “It’s about how I actually measure productivity beyond productivity numbers, like how it’s helping me grow my sales or how it’s helping me avoid risks and fines.”
In 2026, CFOs will need to direct their AI budgets toward “targeted investments with clear expectations for ROI and business value,” according to Elaine Marion, CFO at ePlus, a consulting technology services provider.
“It’s important to make the right investments at the right time. Acting too early or too late can have a significant impact on the outcome,” she said in an email. “This strategic approach enables organizations to maximize the benefits of AI while maintaining financial discipline.”
2. Governance and risk mitigation gap
Even though many companies have implemented AI safeguards in recent years, experts say the technology is constantly evolving alongside risks, leaving CFOs scrambling to keep up.
The rapid rise of agents AI in particular has opened the door. McKinsey analysts said in a report last October that the vulnerabilities were “vulnerabilities that could disrupt business operations, compromise sensitive data, and undermine customer trust.”
“AI agents not only provide a new external entry point for would-be attackers, but they also introduce new internal risks because they can make decisions without human oversight,” the report said.
A recent KPMG study ranked cybersecurity as the top barrier to achieving AI strategy goals, with half of leaders planning to allocate $10 million to $50 million next year to “securing agent architectures, improving data lineage, and strengthening model governance.”
Brian Weiss, chief technology officer at enterprise AI software company Hyperscience, told CFO Dive that minimizing the risk of AI “hallucinations,” where tools claim false facts as true, will also be a key challenge.
“In 2026, companies will no longer be working on building AI; they will be working on trusting AI,” he said in an email. “The biggest challenge is managing accuracy, explainability, and bias as generative systems move from experiment to production. Companies are starting to realize that a single illusory answer can derail the entire workflow.”
3. workforce disruption
Rapid changes in technology are increasingly redefining jobs and reshaping the workforce, and this trend is expected to continue, if not accelerate, this year.
“Something new happens every six months,” said Scott Lotman, head of CFO advisory services. Global professional services company RGP said this in an interview. “Skill sets become obsolete quickly in this environment, and we need to have very strategic conversations about how to fill that talent gap.”
Skill gaps are now ranked According to RGP research released last month, this is one of the most important barriers to realizing ROI from AI. CFOs and chief human resources officers have a “unique opportunity to redefine workforce strategy together by aligning the skills, capabilities, and cultural readiness needed for AI to realize its full potential,” the report said.
Codio, a cloud-based platform for teaching and learning technology skills, reported in November that more than 80% of business leaders it surveyed expected to: increase your training budget Over the next two years, we will move towards building out our in-house AI capabilities. According to the report, the skills most in demand include AI oversight and governance, agile engineering, and data literacy.
“From a CFO’s perspective, it’s probably pretty smart to dig deep into the upskilling equation, because I think there will be positive financial performance benefits for companies that get this right and are able to realize productivity gains,” Codio CEO Philip Snaroon said in an interview.
Meanwhile, concerns about the potential for AI to lead to employee layoffs are growing as some companies look to cut costs by cutting staff. 60% of workers believe AI will eliminate more jobs more than will be created in the next year, according to a recent study by resume service provider ResumeNow.
4. Silos and technical debt
According to the RGP report, while CFOs are driving AI adoption, many companies recognize that the underlying technology infrastructure is not yet ready to support large-scale deployment. Legacy systems, aging Enterprise resource planning RGP characterized this as a problem caused by technical debt, stating that “a fragmented architecture continues to slow implementation and diminish impact.” Technical debt refers to the future costs and rework required to choose the right software solution quickly.
86% of CFOs surveyed in RGP’s survey say technical debt is a “moderate or significant barrier” to enterprise AI and limits their ability to respond.
5. Regulatory uncertainty
Goli Mahdavi, a partner at Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner, said the proliferation of disparate AI regulations at the state level will pose “significant compliance challenges for organizations navigating an increasingly fragmented legal landscape.”
Business leaders “need to prepare for increased regulatory oversight of the development and deployment of AI systems and the operational complexity associated with managing compliance across multiple potentially conflicting regulatory frameworks,” she said in an email.
executives Order signed by President Donald Trump Legal analysts say December’s announcement could create further uncertainty. The president called for states with “onerous” AI laws to be denied federal funding. He also directed U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi to create an AI Litigation Task Force within 30 days to challenge state AI laws that “unconstitutionally regulate interstate commerce” or conflict with existing federal law.
Critics, including the American Civil Liberties Union, say the order violates the constitution and could set the stage for a legal battle next year.
“Ultimately, this is going to be an issue that Congress will need to address,” Woods Rogers Vandeventer Black attorney Patrick Austin said in an interview.
