Executives Consider AI Budget Cuts Amid ROI Struggles

A survey of 2,850 executives conducted by G-P reveals a growing disconnect between the adoption of artificial intelligence and the realization of its financial value. The research shows that the proportion of global executives aggressively using AI for innovation has declined by nearly 20 points over the last year.

Approximately 70% of executives report that employees are spending increased time reviewing and correcting AI-generated output. Nat Natarajan, Chief Operations Officer of G-P, describes this trend as a "monitoring tax" that erodes return on investment. Because of these inefficiencies, roughly 70% of executives are prepared to reduce AI budgets if clear profit goals are not achieved this year.

Natarajan argues that companies have mistakenly integrated AI into legacy, inefficient workflows instead of re-architecting their business models. He advocates for a transition toward agentic architecture and system-level workflows capable of executing end-to-end processes, though he notes this requires modernizing underlying operational foundations first.