Few CIOs seeing transformational value from AI investments: Gartner

Very few CIOs are enjoying the fruit of their AI labor, according to new research from Gartner.

The analyst firm’s survey, which queried 2,002 tech leaders between May and July, found that 13% of CIOs say they have achieved “significant or transformational value” from AI.

Volume vs. value. The findings, which were unveiled on Monday at the Gartner IT Symposium/Xpo 2026, come just as AI use cases are surging within organizations. Gartner VP Analyst Alicia Mullery told IT Brew the average number of AI use cases increased by 400% between 2024 and 2025, but cautioned that organizations achieving “volume” is not the same as gaining value from AI.

“When I talk to a lot of leaders, they tell me that their executive teams are experiencing FOMO, fear of missing out,” Mullery said. “Every leader is like, ‘Oh my God, I got to be doing something. We’re doing AI…’ And that volume doesn’t necessarily equal value.”

What top achievers have in common. Out of the 2,002 leaders surveyed, 11% were identified as “vanguards,” or CIOs and organizations that have achieved high business outcomes and “high CEO-perceived AI value.” Mullery said this group of organizations has leaders who are “very aggressive” in establishing AI operating principles.

For instance, organizations with guidelines establishing when an AI pilot should no longer move into production are 2.3-times more likely to be vanguards. (Only 31% of CIOs say they have these standards in place.)

Another quality of vanguards, according to Mullery, is that they push to put AI governance standards in place.

“They have a bias to action to move really quickly to say, ‘If we want to have this technology, we’re going to put up all the rules around it so that it’s safe and have enterprise adherence to it,’” Mullery said. “Those vanguards are more likely to be working with a cross-functional part of business leaders, CFOs, heads of HR, heads of marketing, all of those different leaders.”

Vanguards are also focused on transforming their workplace for the AI era. Organizations with specific plans to redesign roles for a human-agent workforce are 2.4-times more likely to be vanguards, according to Gartner. Vanguard CIOs specifically understand that IT roles are simultaneously compressing and expanding, meaning companies are increasing headcount even as job titles begin to merge with one another, Mullery said.

“All of that is another space that vanguards are very aggressively looking at. How do we redesign roles? How do we reskill based on skills frameworks for the AI era?” Mullery said. “That’s really important.”

Anything is possible. Mullery noted that vanguard designation isn’t limited to professionals from large enterprises with big budgets.

“There was no trend across industry, size of company, size of IT team, which I found really encouraging, because what we found is that anybody can use these practices to be a vanguard,” Mullery said. “Not every company is going to want to be a vanguard, but they can use these practices.”