Only 22% of Organizations Have Successfully Scaled AI Across Multiple Business Units: Gartner

• 08 Sep 2026
• TM Team
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Only 22% of organizations have successfully scaled AI across multiple business units or adopted an AI-first approach, according to a survey by Gartner, Inc., a business and technology insights company. Roughly 11% of organizations are entirely unaware of what their function spent on AI in 2025.

A Gartner survey from January-April 2026 of 1,303 respondents from organizations with enterprise wide annual revenue of at least $50 million in fiscal year 2025 found that, despite this lack of success, investment in AI continues to accelerate. Eighty-five percent of functional leaders plan to increase spending in 2026 after dedicating an average of 12% of their functional budgets to AI in 2025.

“This lack of financial visibility heightens risk as spending accelerates,” said Tina Nunno, Distinguished Vice President & Gartner Fellow. “Without disciplined measurement tied directly to business outcomes, organizations risk wasted resources and unmet expectations.”

High performers – companies that constantly track ROI of AI initiatives, treat AI as a portfolio of value and regularly assess project performance and reallocate or discontinue underperforming initiatives – reported positive returns in 81% of their AI initiatives, while low performers reported they did not know the rate of return for 29% of AI initiatives.

Furthermore, most functions are prioritizing productivity gains over bold transformation or new revenue streams. Productivity was a key target outcome for 75% of functional leaders, and it commands approximately 30% of functional AI spend on average, nearly twice the percentage of the next highest objective.

“Functional leaders who track every dollar spent by outcome category, such as productivity, revenue growth, risk mitigation, or innovation, are best positioned to defend investments and reallocate quickly if their projects underperform,” said Nunno. “Without disciplined measurement tied directly to business objectives, organizations open themselves up to misallocation and missed opportunities as scrutiny intensifies.”