More than half of companies have yet to see any financial benefit from their investments in artificial intelligence, according to the latest Global CEO Survey from PwC.
The survey, which included responses from 4,454 chief executives across 95 countries, found that 56% of respondents said their companies achieved neither higher revenues nor lower costs from AI over the past year.
Only 12% of surveyed CEOs reported gaining both revenue growth and cost reductions from AI investments. According to the survey, those companies were more likely to have built enterprise-wide AI foundations rather than pursuing isolated or experimental projects.
Despite the lack of clear financial returns for most companies, spending on AI continues, showing little sign of slowing down.
The survey also pointed to a drop in executive confidence about near-term growth. Just 30% of CEOs said they feel strongly optimistic about revenue growth over the next 12 months.
That figure marks a decline from 38% last year and remains well below the 56% of executives who expressed the same level of optimism in 2022.
PwC did not provide forecasts on when broader financial returns from AI investments may emerge.