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Many CEOs say AI is helping their businesses get more done, but the reported productivity gains do not yet translate consistently into higher revenue, lower costs or clearly measured returns. The surveys point to a gap between perceived operational improvement and demonstrated financial impact—not proof that AI has raised productivity across businesses.
Is AI actually making businesses more productive?
In EY’s 2026 survey, 50% of CEOs said AI technologies were the single largest contributor to productivity gains at their companies over the previous 12 months. That is a substantial reported contribution, but it is executives’ assessment—not an independently measured causal effect.
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EY surveyed 1,200 CEOs at large companies in 21 countries in August and September 2026. The findings describe those respondents’ views and should not automatically be generalized to small businesses, all employees or every industry. EY’s survey release
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PwC’s 29th Global CEO Survey offers a mixed picture of reported financial outcomes in the prior 12 months. Thirty percent of CEOs said AI had generated additional revenue, while 26% said it had reduced costs. At the same time, 22% reported higher costs and 56% reported neither higher revenue nor lower costs. Twelve percent said they had achieved both increased revenue and reduced costs.
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These responses are not contradictory to the productivity findings: a company may save time or accelerate work without yet selling more, spending less overall or improving profit. They also come from separate surveys with different questions and samples, so the percentages should not be combined into a single estimate of AI’s business impact. PwC’s 29th Global CEO Survey
Why can productivity gains fail to show up in the bottom line?
Productivity is about the relationship between output and resources used. A team completing work faster may have more capacity, but the company sees a financial benefit only if it converts that capacity into valuable output, avoids costs, grows revenue or otherwise improves results. Gains can be absorbed by implementation expenses, added work, or other costs before they affect the bottom line.
EY’s 2026 survey found that 23% of CEOs said AI-driven gains are often absorbed before fully translating into bottom-line results. The same release shows that visibility into returns is limited for many respondents: 16% said they had clear, real-time visibility into AI ROI, while 24% could track some AI costs but had limited ability to assess overall ROI. More than half (56%) reported at least some reliable visibility into AI costs and returns, so the picture is incomplete measurement—not a complete absence of it. EY’s survey findings
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Survey results suggest that adoption is not the same as deep or company-wide use. PwC’s March 2026 workforce analysis says fewer than one-quarter of CEOs reported extensive AI use across major business areas. A separate PwC survey of workers, conducted in 2025, found that 14% used generative AI daily at work. These figures describe different respondent groups and measures; they are not a matched comparison of CEO claims against employee behavior. PwC’s workforce analysis
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In a separate survey of 300 senior executives at U.S. companies, PwC found that more than a third had broadly adopted AI agents, 27% reported limited adoption and 17% said agents had been adopted throughout the company. Broad adoption can indicate that a technology is spreading, but it does not by itself establish how much it has changed productivity or financial results. PwC’s survey of AI-agent adoption
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.What do CEOs expect AI to change next?
Gartner reported in April 2026 that 80% of surveyed CEOs expected AI to require medium-to-high changes in operational capabilities. The survey included 469 CEOs and other senior executives worldwide and was conducted over three quarters, ending in Q4 2025. It measures expectations about the changes organizations will need to make—not proof those changes have happened or that they have produced productivity gains. Gartner’s survey release
Quick Recap
How to read the survey findings
- Perceived productivity is not the same as measured productivity. EY’s 50% figure records CEOs identifying AI as their leading contributor to recent gains, not a controlled measurement proving AI caused those gains.
- Operational improvement is not the same as financial return. Time saved or work completed faster may not raise revenue or reduce total costs unless a company turns the extra capacity into measurable value.
- Results depend on the question and sample. EY surveyed CEOs at large companies across 21 countries; PwC’s revenue and cost findings come from its global CEO survey; its agent-adoption figures come from U.S. senior executives; Gartner measured worldwide executive expectations.
- Reported figures do not establish what every business experiences. These are surveys of executives or workers, not a pooled or independently verified measure of productivity across companies.
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