Corporate investment in artificial intelligence continues its strong upward trajectory, with companies planning to double their AI spending in 2026 to approximately 1.7% of revenues - more than twice the increase seen in 2025. CEOs are stepping forward as the primary decision makers on AI strategy, dedicating significant personal time to upskilling and committing substantially more resources to capability-building across their organizations.
Quick Intel
These insights come from BCG's third annual AI Radar 2026 report, "As AI Investments Surge, CEOs Take the Lead," based on a survey of 2,360 executives across 16 markets and nine industries, including 640 CEOs. Despite economic uncertainty, the surge underscores AI's elevation from experimental technology to core strategic priority.
"Despite economic uncertainty, this anticipated surge in spending reflects how much of a priority AI has become in the business world," said Christoph Schweizer, BCG's CEO and coauthor of the report. "AI is no longer confined to IT or innovation teams—it's reshaping strategy and operations from the top down with CEOs taking a leading role. Nearly three-quarters of CEOs say they are now the main decision makers on AI, and half believe their jobs depend on it."
The survey identifies three CEO archetypes in AI adoption: Followers (~15%) who invest cautiously, Pragmatists (~70%) who commit when value and low risk are clear, and Trailblazers (~15%) who pursue aggressive transformation through decisive investment, rapid upskilling, and strong belief in ROI. Trailblazers lead in agentic AI deployment, directing over half of their 2026 budgets to agents and twice as likely to implement them end-to-end across processes.
CEO engagement remains high, with trailblazers spending more than eight hours per week on personal AI upskilling. Nearly all CEOs (94%) intend to maintain or increase AI investment even if short-term returns lag, driven by optimism around agentic AI's potential for measurable impact.
Regional differences are notable, with Eastern CEOs showing greater confidence in AI payoff compared to their Western counterparts, who more often cite defensive motivations such as avoiding falling behind. Across industries, all sectors plan increases, led by tech (2.1% of revenues) and financial services (2.0%), while industrial and real estate lag at 0.8%.
"CEOs have a defining role in shaping how AI delivers value," said Sylvain Duranton, coauthor and Global Leader of BCG X. "The true competitive advantage lies with those CEOs who will reshape functions end-to-end and invent new products and services that drive growth. The fact that nine out of ten CEOs tell us that by 2028 the measure of success for a company will be heavily tilted towards those that are able to get AI right reflects the significant change we are seeing in the market."
The report outlines key actions for CEOs: prioritize AI as a top strategic focus, deepen personal and organizational AI literacy, invest decisively at scale, upskill the workforce comprehensively, and track ROI rigorously to ensure sustainable value creation.
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