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The CIO’s next challenge: To scale and mainstream AI
State of the CIO and AI
CIOs are at the forefront leading efforts to move beyond AI experimentation to scaled implementations that deliver measurable business value.
At year three in its AI journey, TIAA has covered a lot of ground. TIAA MYGAIT, its proprietary generative and agentic AI platform which launched with a couple of dozen pilots, is now the springboard for hundreds of use cases that boost employee productivity and uplevel customer service. An empathy agent has been developed to guide call center employees in offering more personalized, compassionate support while AI is central to TIAA's efforts to protect older customers from fraud and scams.
Scaling AI: Leadership, structure, and enablement
As AI use cases blossom, adoption is soaring. Last year, TIAA had about 300 users involved in AI pilots. As of early 2026, that number has skyrocketed to where 85% of the company is now actively using TIAA MYGAIT along with other AI capabilities. Yet even with amped-up enthusiasm and regular use, there is still significant work ahead to get everyone on board and ensure AI use cases are tightly aligned with core business goals.
“People are excited about using AI, but those same people are concerned about what happens to their job tomorrow—that's a massive shift from a change management standpoint,” says Sastry Durvasula, chief operating, information & digital officer at TIAA, a lifetime-income focused firm. “ROI is another challenge. We have very strong governance frameworks, but what works on paper sometimes doesn't turn into real ROI given the reality of operational costs.”
As AI continues to dominate boardroom and office discussions, CIOs like Durvasula are once again in the forefront, leading efforts to scale AI across the business and ensure it delivers measurable ROI. The 662 IT leaders and 249 line of business users participating in this year's 25th annual survey confirmed that researching and implementing AI products and projects is a top CEO priority for IT leaders this year, cited by 27% of respondents.
People are excited about using AI, but those same people are concerned about what happens to their job tomorrow—that's a massive shift from a change management standpoint. Sastry Durvasula, chief operating, information & digital officer at TIAA
In fact, accelerating AI-driven innovation and applications is the no. 1 business initiative for 2026 and the driver of significant IT investment, according to 39% of IT leader respondents. AI technologies, including generative AI at 42%, and agentic AI at 38%, were flagged as the most strategically important IT investments this year. Nearly three quarters (74%) of 2026 respondents said AI is already or is beginning to reshape operations. The message is coming through loud and clear: Executive leadership believes AI will have a quantifiable impact on productivity, profits, and long-term growth and they are counting on CIOs to lead the charge.
ROI is another challenge. We have very strong governance frameworks, but what works on paper sometimes doesn't turn into real ROI given the reality of operational costs. Sastry Durvasula, chief operating, information & digital officer at TIAA
39%
of CIOs cite accelerating AI-driven innovation and applications as the no. 1 business initiative expected to drive IT investments.
74%
of respondents said AI is already or is beginning to reshape operations.
“The CIO is the best positioned to lead AI as they often have oversight of all the critical layers, including data, strategy, training, and driving day-to-day execution,” notes Sean McCormack, CIO at First Student, a leading provider of school bus transportation services. ”It's a passion project that requires so much executive engagement—it made the most sense for me to lead.”
Building the foundation: Structures, governance, and change management
To transform AI from experimentation into enterprise-scale deployment, organizations are establishing the structural and operational foundations that enable success. Like McCormack, a good number of CIOs are helming this transition as their organizations redefine structures and reorganize to move beyond AI pilots to deployment of AI at scale. The majority (79%) of 2026 State of the CIO respondents said CIOs are working more closely with line of business (LOB) on AI applications with the CIO serving in a key changemaker role (83%).
Among the key enablers for this next AI chapter are cross-functional steering committees and/or specialized task forces. The majority (83%) of IT leaders surveyed confirmed their firms either have such structures in place or are planning to implement them within the upcoming year. While the makeup of these steering committees is mixed, IT is by far the dominant player. According to survey respondents, the functional areas most likely to be represented include IT (84%), corporate leadership (CEO and board members) (42%), and security and risk (42%) executives. In the majority of cases, the CIO or IT leader leads the committee, cited by 38%. In 26% of companies, a chief AI officer or equivalent is next in line to take the reins followed by corporate leadership (18%).
79%
say that CIOs are working more closely with line of business (LOB) on AI applications
Under his stewardship, First Student’s McCormack credits a number of initiatives for accelerating the firm’s transition to AI at scale. At the core, the company has a well-defined innovation framework, supported by an AI-focused innovation council, which includes McCormack and the rest of the executive suite. The council meets regularly to review all use cases, identifying the ones most closely aligned with core business objectives. “Everything is metrics driven and designed to prove value,” he says.
Training is another top priority. First Student policy is to provide the tools and training so its workforce can be up and running on AI capabilities as fast as possible. There is also an executive education track provided to the board and the C-suite to ensure everyone is clear on AI’s possibilities—and its limitations. “Six to 12 months ago, there was a false perception that AI can do everything, but the reality is it can’t,” McCormack says. “We work with [the executive team] to do a reality check that showcases where AI makes sense and where it doesn’t.”
Six to 12 months ago, there was a false perception that AI can do everything, but the reality is it can't. Sean McCormack, CIO, First Student
We work with [the executive team] to do a reality check that showcases where AI makes sense and where it doesn't. Sean McCormack, CIO, First Student
As AI agents proliferate across the business, governance is crucial. For Indeed, a leading global job site, that means redefining observability and governance with new models that operate at machine speed and facilitate human-in-the-loop processes. As part of its approach, Indeed is assigning teams to build guardrails into agentic systems at the onset of development, not after the fact. “If governance is added too late, there's an incredible amount of risk,” notes Anthony Moisant, Indeed's CIO and chief security officer. “You will grind the gears of an organization dramatically if you are trying to retrofit controls, privacy, security, and a responsible AI experience.”
As organizations move from experimentation to AI deployment at scale, change management becomes equally critical. Organizations need to double down on incentivizing the right behavior while introducing education and champion programs aimed at specific audiences. “In experimentation mode, you aren’t really changing the lives of everyone around a process,” Moisant explains. “At scale, you are changing what people’s day-to-day role will be. Centering around people is really important.” This human-centered approach—combining clear governance, structured decision-making, and thoughtful change management—creates the foundation upon which scaled AI initiatives can succeed.
If governance is added too late, there’s an incredible amount of risk. You will grind the gears of an organization dramatically if you are trying to retrofit controls, privacy, security, and a responsible AI experience. Anthony Moisant, CIO and chief security officer, Indeed
In experimentation mode, you aren’t really changing the lives of everyone around a process. At scale, you are changing what people’s day-to-day role will be. Centering around people is really important. Anthony Moisant, CIO and chief security officer, Indeed
The ROI challenge: Measure success at scale
With the foundation in place, the critical next step is demonstrating concrete business value. Yet despite aggressive AI deployment across organizations, measuring and achieving ROI remains a significant hurdle. The preponderance of 2026 State of the CIO respondents are going hard at AI deployment, yet they are less evolved when it comes to establishing formal processes for approving and measuring the value of AI projects. Slightly more than half of respondents (53%) have established some type of official approval process, but 28% are still hammering out details with plans to activate something within the next 12 months.
Respondents are also lagging on defined success metrics or KPIs, yet most are committed to making this a priority in 2026. Less than half (47%) of IT leaders say their organizations have formal metrics for measuring AI project value with another 34% planning to implement such benchmarks within the year. Those that are measuring AI success called out operational efficiency and process improvement as the top metrics, cited by 40% of respondents. Employee productivity (34%) and cost reduction (30%) also ranked high as important ROI targets. AI's impact on revenue or growth is less important as of now, cited by only 27% of respondents.
With most organizations knee deep in efforts to formalize AI processes and create new organizational structures, ROI remains somewhat elusive. Less than a fifth of this year's IT leader respondents (19%) say AI initiatives have met or exceeded ROI goals. The reality lies somewhere in the middle—40% confirm some projects have hit the mark while 18% say fewer than a third of AI use cases are meeting defined metrics.
Top measures of AI ROI among organizations
Operational efficiency/process improvement
40%
Employee productivity
34%
Cost reduction
30%
Adoption and business usage of AI solutions
27%
Revenue impact or growth enablement
The ROI gap
19% say AI initiatives have met or exceeded ROI goals
40% report partial success
18% say fewer than a third of use cases are hitting metrics
IT leaders acknowledge the importance of addressing the ROI shortcomings. Nearly a third (32%) of IT leaders confirmed inconsistent and incomplete ROI metrics are a critical barrier to AI success. Additionally, respondents called out lack of clarity on corporate AI strategy (31%) and a shortage of in-house expertise (40%) as hurdles to meeting ROI goals. This ROI gap reflects a hard truth: translating AI investments from promising pilots into measurable business value requires more than enthusiasm and governance frameworks. It demands rigorous discipline around measurement, realistic operational planning, and a clear-eyed assessment of what success actually looks like in each organization.
Lack of in-house AI expertise
32%
Lack of clear ROI metrics for AI initiatives
31%
Lack of clarity on corporate AI strategy
The hidden roadblocks to AI success
The evolving CIO: Strategic portfolio management and business leadership
While AI dominates the conversation, CIOs are managing a far broader technology and business agenda—and their role is fundamentally transforming in the process. AI deployment is clearly front and center, but 2026 State of the CIO respondents have a broad mandate and a lot of other initiatives on their plate. Top leadership’s no. 1 priority for CIOs this year is to orchestrate the usual technology-oriented projects, including upgrading IT and data security, cited by 25%. Strengthening IT and business collaboration is also high on the CEO priority list, cited by 23% of respondents and fairly consistent with last year’s findings, at 22%. This year’s IT leader respondents plan to ramp up involvement with AI/machine learning (76%), agentic AI (70%), and cybersecurity (63%).
As organizations map out specific business initiative investments, innovation tied to AI comes first. Responding organizations expect to increase investments across the full complement of AI technologies, including generative AI (67%), machine learning/artificial intelligence (66%), and agentic AI (65%) over the coming year. Twenty-three percent of State of the CIO respondents expect to work more closely with business leaders on AI programs. Other top priorities include business initiatives aimed at increasing operational efficiency (32%), increasing cybersecurity protections (32%), and improving profitability (31%).
75%
AI/machine learning
70%
Agentic AI
63%
Cybersecurity
55%
Product development/innovation
54%
Customer experience
Areas where CIOs expect increased involvement
To advance the AI mission alongside these broader organizational goals, organizations are expanding technology initiatives in areas like business process and IT automation (56%), security and risk management (55%), and data and business analytics (54%). Technologies related to IT infrastructure modernization—migrating and developing applications in the cloud (17%), cloud management tools (16%), and application modernization (16%)—are on the decline as organizations pivot toward AI-enabling infrastructure.
Indeed is laser-focused on adapting its data platform in service of this portfolio approach. Much of the effort is focused on adding semantic layers so there is shared business translation between raw data systems. “There is a common definition and logic that takes the knowledge graph of humans and puts it into something that is more agent readable,” explains Anthony Moisant, Indeed’s CIO and chief security officer. “With the size of our implementations, it’s hard to keep track of whether agents are using an approved metric so having universal, shared context across the company, with consistency, is important.”
Tech initiatives expected to drive IT investments
67%
Generative AI
66%
Machine learning/AI
65%
56%
Business process/IT automation
Security/risk management
Data/business analytics
52%
Customer experience technologies
48%
Employee experience technologies
Similarly, Andrea Ballinger, CIO at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI), came onboard earlier this year with a mission to reimagine the university’s enterprise data ecosystem so it can take full advantage of agentic AI—while maintaining strategic alignment. Among the key building blocks of RPI’s new data foundation are a data fabric layer and secure containers designed to leverage data where it resides and a data factory for orchestrating and transforming data at scale. Equally important is designing with strategy and KPIs in mind. “There is an entire process devoted to deciding what is a valuable business case before it gets to the data ecosystem,” Ballinger explains. “We are not putting something into the ecosystem and hoping for a return.” This approach—marrying technological capability with business strategy—reflects the broader evolution of the CIO role.
There is an entire process devoted to deciding what is a valuable business case before it gets to the data ecosystem. Andrea Ballinger, CIO, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
We are not putting something into the ecosystem and hoping for a return. Andrea Ballinger, CIO, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
From technical leader to strategic business partner
With AI and technology as the primary transformation engine for business, CIOs continue to gain stature and command influence at every level of the organization. CIOs routinely report into the CEO and are juggling multiple positions; almost half (46%) of survey respondents view the CIO as a strategic business leader who proactively identifies business needs and opportunities and follows up with technology and provider recommendations that align with stated business goals.
The CIO position also continues to be more digital and innovation focused, according to 84% of IT and 78% of LOB respondents. Eighty-two percent of IT and 76% of LOB respondents say CIOs are actively leading digital transformation initiatives more so than their business counterparts. This elevation reflects the reality that technology is no longer a support function—it is the engine of competitive advantage and business transformation. As is the case these last few years, CIOs stand at a crossroads: Cling to the comfort and safety of being a technical, back-office implementor or continue to stretch and grow as a strategic business enabler. The onset of AI intensifies the moment, accelerating the need for forward-looking CIOs to make the leap and redefine their leadership skills for the modern era. Says TIAA’s Durvasula: “The more CIOs can lean in beyond their own organizational structure and disruption, the more influential they will be.” For those who embrace this evolution—balancing AI ambition with ROI rigor, managing a complex technology portfolio, and earning a seat at the strategic table—the opportunity is unprecedented.
82%
of CIOs are more involved in leading digital transformation initiatives compared to their business counterparts.
84%
of CIOs say that their role is becoming more digital and innovation focused.
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State of the CIO The 2026 State of the CIO Survey finds IT leaders on the frontlines as enterprises move beyond AI experimentation to transformative use cases that deliver measurable business value.
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