Corporate AI Investments Struggle to Prove Their Worth to CFOs

At The Wall Street Journal’s Technology Council Summit, McKinsey & Co. senior partner Kate Smaje noted that while 80% of users feel more productive, the needle on financial returns has remained stagnant for over a year. Only 6% of executives believe AI is currently capable of shifting investor sentiment. For many firms, the promise of automation remains trapped in the experimental phase.

However, some industry leaders argue that these figures fail to capture the full picture. Glean CEO Arvind Jain suggests that AI’s impact is often hidden because companies lack the baseline metrics to measure performance in areas like customer service or contract review. Because these tasks lacked precise financial tracking before AI, the resulting improvements remain invisible to traditional accounting, even as they provide a net positive force for enterprise operations.