Drowning in hype and under pressure from top leadership, CIOs are racing to operationalize strategic AI initiatives in an effort to demonstrate — and more importantly, deliver — measurable ROI from this equally disruptive and transformative technology. The perpetual pipeline of AI pilots and rampant experimentation are giving way to a new mandate to prioritize and scale AI solutions with the greatest propensity to deliver business value and impact the bottom line. Yet the ability to achieve quantifiable ROI from AI projects remains somewhat elusive for many CIOs as they spearhead AI’s next chapter. According to CIO.com’s 25th annual State of the CIO survey, which canvassed 662 IT leaders and 249 line of business users, less than a fifth (19%) of respondents say AI initiatives have met or exceeded business goals, and 18% admit fewer than a third of AI use cases are meeting defined expectations.

Full report : CIO.com’s 2026 State of the CIO respondents are building organizational structures and KPIs to prioritize use cases that deliver measurable business value.