Three quarters of AI strategies are 'more for show'
A 2026 survey found three quarters of executives admit their AI strategy is more for show than real direction, even as most pour over a million dollars a year into it. The gap between spending and strategy is the whole story.
There is a striking admission buried in this year's enterprise AI research. In WRITER's 2026 survey, 75% of executives said their company's AI strategy was "more for show" than genuine direction (WRITER). In the same study, 59% of companies were investing at least US$1 million a year in AI, yet only 29% reported seeing significant returns. More than half said adopting AI was, in their words, "tearing their company apart".
It isn't an isolated finding. Publicis Sapient's 2026 report, based on 1,550 AI decision-makers, described a widening gap between AI adoption and the readiness to actually use it: the tools are everywhere, but most organisations haven't reshaped the workflows and operating models needed to get value from them (Publicis Sapient).
Spending is not strategy
Put the numbers together and a pattern appears. Plenty of money, plenty of tools, very little plan. AI has been bought far faster than it has been thought through, and the businesses admitting their strategy is "for show" are the ones now feeling the strain.
The quiet alternative
The encouraging part is that the bar is low. While most companies are spending heavily and hoping, a real strategy, knowing where AI is worth using, in what order, with the people and data to support it, is enough to stand out. The 29% seeing returns aren't spending more than everyone else. They are spending it deliberately.
That is the whole idea behind adopting AI properly rather than reactively: a plan before the tools, outcomes you can measure, and your team brought along with you (the 7 questions every business asks before adopting AI).
Want to know where your team actually stands?