A survey from IBM has reported that a significant number of CEOs are driven by the fear of missing out (FOMO) when investing in AI, despite return on investment in the technology not meeting expectations.
Despite these findings, the belief in AI’s ability to change the business climate remains strong, as executive respondents expect the growth rate of AI investments to more than double in the next two years.
With tech giants such as Amazon and Google doubling down on their spending, it can be easy to worry about keeping up with changing tides. A recent report from Microsoft even urges businesses to quickly integrate the technology in order to stay relevant in today’s landscape.
FOMO, Not ROI, Drives AI Spending for Businesses
According to a recent survey of 2,000 CEOs from IBM, only 25% of AI initiatives have delivered the expected return on investment, and in turn, only 16% of these developments have scaled enterprise wide.
Likewise, only 52% of CEO respondents say that their organization is realizing value from generative AI investments beyond cost reduction. This reveals that businesses may not be necessarily reaping the rewards for investing in the tech.
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Despite these lackluster results, companies continue to invest heavily in AI. The reason? The fear of missing out, particularly as AI looks set to take over the business world in increasingly new ways every day.
AI Spending Ramped Up by Corporate Giants
Significantly, executive respondents surveyed expect the rate of AI investments to more than double in the next two years, as businesses look to scale up with the technology. 61% confirmed that they are actively adopting AI agents in their business today and are preparing to implement them at scale.
The reason for this, despite the earlier findings on lack of return on investment, seems to come down to 64% of CEOs acknowledging that the risk of falling behind has impacted investment in some technology, causing them to invest even before they are aware of how it will impact their business.
Wherever you look, it is easy to find a business who is ramping up their AI spending. Most recently, Meta announced plans to increase its 2025 capital expenditure outlook to between $64 and $72 billion to support its AI buildout and the costs of infrastructure hardware.
This kind of big spending could signal to businesses not involved with AI, that they should be.
Should Businesses Run to Catch the AI Train?
In a recent report, Microsoft termed modern businesses using AI agents with humans as Frontier Firms, and identified that this setup will become inevitable for businesses looking to stay relevant. The Frontier Firms mentioned in the report have shown great success so far, with 71% of those surveyed saying their business is thriving, compared to 37% of workers globally.
However, it has not all been smooth sailing for AI agents in the workplace. A recent experiment of a team of only AI agents led to catastrophic results, and another study found that AI could actually be creating more work for employees, rather than streamlining operations.
What we know is that AI is here to stay. In our Impact of Technology on the Workplace Report 2025, only 15% of businesses claimed to have never used AI before, compared to the 34% of businesses the year before. How fast you should implement AI, however, should depend on your own business’s needs and capabilities.
