LIVE FROM GARTNER
One in five AI projects succeeds.
That was the figure a year ago. And despite another year of investment, experimentation, and enterprise adoption, the number hasn’t changed.
Yet 58% of executives now report positive ROI from AI, even as organizations are spending 18 times more to achieve it than they did just two years ago.
Those figures, presented during the opening keynote at Gartner IT Symposium/Xpo 2026, raise an interesting question:
Are enterprises getting better at AI, or are they simply doing more of it?
Gartner Distinguished VP Analyst Daryl Plummer and VP Analyst Kristin Moyer challenged technology leaders to rethink how they approach AI investments, balancing the pursuit of value against growing risks.
According to Gartner, 86% of CIOs believe risk is growing faster than value, while only 25% have successfully aligned the two. Meanwhile, 71% expect to deploy agentic AI within the next 12 months, despite just 21% having governance structures in place.
The disconnect is hard to ignore.
AI adoption continues to accelerate, but the ability to consistently generate value and manage the consequences isn’t necessarily keeping pace. Keep reading…
Your AI has initiative. Does it have permission?
AI agents now reach your business systems through MCP, often with shared keys and more access than the work requires.
Celigo MCP Management puts least agency into practice: every person and agent gets only the tools they need, access runs through your identity provider, and every call traces to a verified user.
POPULAR WITH OUR READERS
Last week TNCR released our monthly edition of CxOs On the Move, and the moving hasn’t slowed down since. Hertz, Publix, and Nike have all announced moves in their C-suite.
By August 2026, Anthropic's AI agents were logging six times as many working hours as employees, while revenue growth continued to outpace hiring. A new report examines how those productivity gains are changing workforce planning and raising questions about the future of entry-level technical roles.
Most organizations are not short on excitement about AI. What they are short on is clarity. TNCR Contributing CIO Rockwell Scott makes the case for why leaders need to communicate intent first, and how that intent shapes trust, adoption, governance, and culture.
ON-SITE SNAPSHOTS
FROM THE CIO DESK
Private equity has decided it needs a technology voice at the fund level. It has not decided what that voice is responsible for.
As TNCR Contributing CIO Saïd Toro explains, the same Technology Operating Partner title now describes materially different jobs from one firm to the next. A role hired without a defined mandate will be measured without a defined scorecard, and a role measured loosely tends to be judged harshly.
Drawing on his experience in the seat, Toro examines where the role falls short, what it should own, and the questions firms need to settle before making the hire.
TAKE A LOOK IN THE MIRROR
CIOs have plenty competing for their attention. With so much focus on organizational performance, it's interesting to occasionally turn that lens on ourselves. If you're up for a little mid-week reflection, the Pillars Assessment is worth a look.
