Only 13% of CIOs say their enterprise has realised significant or transformational value from AI so far, according to Gartner. AI use cases have grown fast over the past two years. Yet the chance that a use case succeeds is still one in five.
Alicia Mullery, VP Analyst at Gartner, said volume is not value. She said AI is forcing a reckoning for organisations that lack basic disciplines. These include defining a use case’s value in advance and setting criteria for when to walk away.
What the Survey Found
The Gartner 2027 CIO and Technology Executive Agenda survey covered 2,002 CIOs and technology executives. It ran from May to July 2026.
Gartner calls the top performers vanguards. These CIOs deliver better business outcomes and also report high CEO-perceived AI value. They are more likely to set stopping rules at two points in the lifecycle, which are pilots and production. These rules matter more as organisations move from experiments to live deployment across GenAI, traditional AI and AI agents.
Organisations with guidelines on when a pilot should not move to production are 2.3 times more likely to be vanguards. Those with guidelines for dropping low-value AI initiatives already in production are 2.6 times more likely. Yet only 31% and 17% of CIOs, respectively, have these practices in place.
Mullery said setting and sticking to these criteria is a team sport. CIOs need business partners who are ready to walk away from low-value investments.
CIOs Must Own AI Economics
Funding for AI is rising. Some 58% of CIOs say pressure to deliver cost improvements from AI has increased. At the same time, 51% expect AI to raise the total cost of ownership of technology solutions. CIOs need to help their organisations govern AI economics across the full lifecycle, not just approve the first purchase.
Mullery said many organisations still use funding and governance models built for cloud and SaaS. Traditional technology costs are largely predictable. AI costs are probabilistic and set at run time. Funding is shifting towards GenAI and agentic AI, while spending on legacy infrastructure shrinks. CIOs will need new approaches to funding, governance and cost accountability.
Redesign Roles, Do Not Just Cut Them
Organisations with clear plans to redesign roles for a human-agent workforce are 2.4 times more likely to be vanguards. But only 4% of CIOs have such plans.
Mullery said many leaders assume AI will mainly reduce technology headcount. In her view, the real vanguard advantage is workforce redesign.
AI lowers the cost and effort of producing technology. As a result, overall demand for technology work rises. IT headcount can grow, and 40% of respondents expect to add IT staff in 2027. The growth is expected mainly in cybersecurity and in data and analytics. At the same time, roles compress and expand.
Mullery said vanguards do not hold to fixed job definitions. As AI takes on specialised tasks, the lines between technology jobs blur. Designers can do more testing, and testers can join design. Organisations will need fewer distinct role types, while each role covers more ground.
