Key stat: Some 44% of chief information officers and CTOs worldwide are very or extremely concerned that global AI investment may be growing faster than the business value it can deliver, according to a September report from GFT Technologies and Wakefield Research.

Beyond the chart:

• In fact, the payoff is patchy so far. Some 43% of private companies have seen financial ROI from AI only in select use cases, compared with 39% that report moderate or significant returns across the board, according to Deloitte.
• Meanwhile, few marketers can prove returns either way. Just 6.5% of North American advertising and marketing professionals measure AI investments against defined metrics, according to Basis.

Use this chart: Drop this into your next AI budget review to show that skepticism reaches the tech leaders who sign off on spend. When vendors and partners pitch new AI tools, use it to push for clear payback milestones before your next pilot scales.

Related EMARKETER reports:

• Tech Trends H1 2026 (EMARKETER subscription required)
• Marketing Data Trends 2026 (EMARKETER subscription required)

Methodology: Data is from the September 2026 GFT Technologies report titled "The Future of AI, Unfiltered" conducted by Wakefield Research. 945 CIOs and CTOs at companies with revenues of at least $500 million were surveyed worldwide during August 11-31, 2026. The margin of error for the full sample is +/- 3.2 percentage points at a 95% confidence level.