Majority of CEOs report zero payoff from AI splurge
- Reference: 1768919475
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2026/01/20/pwc_ai_ceo_survey/
- Source link:
The [1]findings pour more cold water on the hyperbole surrounding AI and the benefits it supposedly brings to business, although the report cautions that "clearly, we're in the early stages of the AI era."
Only 12 percent reported both lower costs and higher revenue, while 56 percent saw neither benefit. Twenty-six percent saw reduced costs, but nearly as many experienced cost increases.
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AI adoption remains limited. Even in top use cases like demand generation (22 percent), support services (20 percent), and product development (19 percent), only a minority are deploying AI extensively.
[3]
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Last year, a separate PwC study found that only 14 percent of workers indicated they were using generative AI daily in their work.
Despite the CEOs' repsonses, PwC concludes more investment is required. It claims that "isolated, tactical AI projects" often don't deliver measurable value, and that tangible returns instead come from enterprise-wide deployments consistent with business strategy.
[5]
However, pilot projects are by their very nature typically small scale and isolated in order to demonstrate the viability of a concept before risking an enterprise-wide rollout. Is PwC advising clients not to worry if an AI pilot project fails, and push ahead with a large-scale deployment anyway?
The report then goes on to explain that scaling up demands "strong AI foundations," including a technology environment that enables AI integration; a clearly defined roadmap for AI initiatives; formalized risk processes; and "an organizational culture that enables AI adoption." So if your AI projects fail, you clearly just don't believe enough.
[6]Experiment suggests AI chatbot would save insurance agents a whopping 3 minutes a day
[7]AI's $3T infrastructure binge continues despite lack of clear profits
[8]Virginia's datacenter tax breaks cost state $1.6B in 2025
[9]AI datacenter boom could end badly, Goldman Sachs warns
This follows [10]MIT research in August which found only 5 percent of enterprises have successfully implemented AI tools at scale, while the other 95 percent saw zero return from their AI efforts. A study out last week concluded that using an AI chatbot saved insurance agents [11]just three minutes a day .
In terms of the broader picture, PwC says it found CEO confidence has hit a five-year low, with only 30 percent optimistic about revenue growth (down from 38 percent last year). This points to growing geopolitical risk and intensifying cyber threats, as well as uncertainty over the benefits and downsides of AI.
Unsurprisingly, concern remains over tariffs as the Trump administration continues its erratic approach to policy, with almost a third of company chiefs saying tariffs are expected to reduce their company's profit margin in the year ahead. In the US, 22 percent indicate their corporation is highly or extremely exposed to tariffs.
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PwC warns that companies avoiding major investments due to geopolitical uncertainty underperform peers by two percentage points in growth and three points in profit margins. ®
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[1] https://www.pwc.com/gx/en/issues/c-suite-insights/ceo-survey.html
[2] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/aiml&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2aW-0wBS2mA8mNB1FVvAKLQAAApM&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0
[3] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/aiml&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44aW-0wBS2mA8mNB1FVvAKLQAAApM&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[4] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/aiml&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33aW-0wBS2mA8mNB1FVvAKLQAAApM&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[5] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/aiml&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44aW-0wBS2mA8mNB1FVvAKLQAAApM&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[6] https://www.theregister.com/2026/01/16/axlerod_ai_saves_insurance_agents_time/
[7] https://www.theregister.com/2026/01/14/ai_investment/
[8] https://www.theregister.com/2026/01/07/datacenter_tax_breaks_virginia/
[9] https://www.theregister.com/2025/12/12/ai_datacenter_investments_goldman/
[10] https://www.theregister.com/2025/08/18/generative_ai_zero_return_95_percent/
[11] https://www.theregister.com/2026/01/16/axlerod_ai_saves_insurance_agents_time/
[12] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/aiml&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33aW-0wBS2mA8mNB1FVvAKLQAAApM&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[13] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
A fool and his money are soon parted
AI snake oil salesmen: Look, we have a shiny golden AI widget.
Buyers: Oh, it's shiny on the surface. Let's 'invest' in this wonderful magic. Everyone is doing it, we need to too.
Time passes.
MostBuyers. This shiny AI widget is not quite so amazing after all. It seems more of a distraction. It doesn't save me either time or money.
SomeBuyers: It works for us in our particular narrow use cases.
SurveyPeople: MostBuyers are doing it wrong. They may be holding a pair of threes, but they need to go ALL IN. They need to spend more money. They also need to outsource all their IT and join it up so anyone can access anything.
the report cautions that "clearly, we're in the early stages of the AI era."
The caution is more likely to enable them to plausibly deny their report burst the bubble.
A lot of these people seem to think OpenAI invented LLMs.
Isolated projects *should* show value
If the technology doesn't depend on economies of scale (and AI does not), and you can't make money or reduce effort on a cherry picked, well defined task, then the technology isn't worth it.
I've not been using LLMs, but I'm fairly certain they're not completely useless based on friends and articles. Nevertheless there's a lot of evidence that there's sufficient disadvantages to using it, that overall it isn't enough of an improvement based on the cost, energy, and environmental impact.
We're not in the 'early stages' a few years in, the tech curve is heading for 'the wheels fall off the bus' stage, on to the rapid descent before 'it's used for what it's actually useful for, and what will make money'. The wheels haven't fallen off yet, but the bearings are making an unpleasant rattle. Sell the bus now.
Neither is it working in the consumer space, if they want to raise prices and increase adverts. Please add adverts and stick prices up, it'll starkly illustrate that consumers will play around when it's free, but once they have to pay it'll be dropped like a hot potato.
Mandy Rice-Davies Rides Again
"Despite the CEOs' repsonses, PwC concludes more investment is required. It claims that "isolated, tactical AI projects" often don't deliver measurable value, and that tangible returns instead come from enterprise-wide deployments consistent with business strategy."
English Translation: "We know the product sucks, but we're hoping for a miracle."
File under They would say that, wouldn't they and/or You're Holding it Wrong
Use case?
Another “AI” story. Another lack of an application.
Yet again, there is all this reference to “AI” without actually saying what the application is. It’s literally talking about a totally non-specific “thing” - it’s completely meaningless
GOOD
There is a big slowdown in interest from our clients, Microsoft pissed off a lot of people with their AI bloat in M365 forced on them like a cable TV company making you take a "bouquet" of channels.