CEOs are rolling up their sleeves and taking the lead as their companies’ main AI decision makers, with trailblazing chief executives now spending more than eight hours per week on their own AI upskilling and investing twice as much as their counterparts in upskilling and capability-building across their organizations, according to new research revealed by Boston Consulting Group (BCG).
“Despite economic uncertainty, this anticipated surge in spending reflects how much of a priority AI has become in the business world,” says Christoph Schweizer, BCG’s CEO and co-author 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.”
Key takeaways:
· While there are no real AI-deniers among CEOs, the survey findings reveal that three archetypes have emerged: • Followers (~15%) recognize AI’s potential but lack full conviction, making some early, cautious investments. • Pragmatists (~70%) are excited and confident about AI, but only invest when they see evident value and low risk. • Trailblazers (~15%) drive AI-powered transformation through decisive investment, rapid upskilling, and strong belief in AI’s ROI.
· 60% of Trailblazing CEOs companies’ AI budgets are allocated to upskilling and retraining their current workforce on the technology, compared to 27% and 24% for Pragmatists and Followers, respectively.
· Trailblazers have also been earlier and more assertive in pursuing AI agents. They are directing more than half of their 2026 AI corporate investments to agents, and are more than twice as likely as Followers to deploy agents end-to-end across a workstream or process.
· In doubling their investment this year, companies are drawing from budgets beyond the tech pool and CEOs have committed more than 30% of their organizations’ AI investments on agentic AI. In fact, 94% of chief executives say they will continue investing in AI at current or higher levels even if the investments do not pay off in the next year.
· Asia, the Middle East, and Africa, are leading the way and outspending their peers in the West. Two-thirds of companies in Greater China and half in Japan and the Middle East and Africa intend to spend at least $50 million on AI in 2026. Only about one-quarter of companies in the UK and United States have similar intentions.
· Roughly three-quarters of CEOs in India and Greater China are confident AI will pay off, compared with 44% in the UK, 52% in the United States, and 61% in Europe. Conversely, a larger share of Western CEOs say their organizations are investing in AI to avoid falling behind or because they feel pressure.
· Among the industries surveyed, all of them plan to increase their AI investments in 2026. At one end, financial institutions are at 2% of revenues, only marginally behind tech companies who plan to spend 2.1% of revenues on AI this year. At the other end, industrial companies and real estate firms plan on spending 0.8% of revenues on AI.
“CEOs have a defining role in shaping how AI delivers value,” says Sylvain Duranton, co-author and global leader of BCG X, the tech build and design division of BCG. “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.”
