How much more companies will spend on AI development

Corporate AI spending is set to double in 2026, with companies planning to devote about revenue to the technology and CEOs taking the lead on decisions, a new report found.

Boston Consulting Group’s AI Radar 2026, its latest survey of senior executives, found that nearly three quarters of chief executives now see themselves as the main AI decision makers, up from last year. Many are investing in their own skills, with trailblazing CEOs spending more than eight hours a week on personal AI upskilling and committing roughly twice as much as peers to training their workforces.

“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 report finds companies will draw from budgets beyond technology to fund AI, with more than 30 per cent of 2026 AI investment earmarked for agentic AI. About 90 per cent of CEOs believe AI agents will enable measurable returns next year, and 94 per cent say they will maintain or increase AI spending even if near term payoffs do not materialize.

BCG grouped executive approaches into three types. Followers, about 15 per cent, see the potential but invest cautiously. Pragmatists, about 70 per cent, are confident but spend when value is clear and risk is low. Trailblazers, about 15 per cent, are pushing transformation with decisive budgets, faster upskilling and a stronger belief in return on investment. Among Trailblazer-led companies, 60 per cent of AI budgets go to reskilling employees, compared with 27 per cent for Pragmatists and 24 per cent for Followers.

Planned investment also differs by industry. Technology companies expect to spend about 2.1 per cent of revenues on AI in 2026, with financial institutions close behind at 2.0 per cent. Industrial firms and real estate companies plan nearer to 0.8 per cent. Across sectors, CEOs cite a short list of actions to steer the next phase, including making AI a top priority, building executive and team literacy, investing at scale across end-to-end functions, upskilling the workforce, and tracking results to prove return on investment over time.

Nearly 72 per cent of CEOs now say they are the main decision makers on AI, roughly double last year’s share. Half believe their jobs are at risk if AI investments do not pay off, yet four in five are more optimistic about AI returns than a year ago, reflecting the rapid maturity of agents and early use cases that reduce costs and improve speed.

“CEOs have a defining role in shaping how AI delivers value,” said Sylvain Duranton, coauthor 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.”

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