Why 95% of AI Pilots Failed and Why CEOs Are Now Running the Playbook
The buyer for AI has changed. For most of the last two years, AI was a CIO conversation. Tools were evaluated, pilots were scoped, vendors were shortlisted. The CEO approved the budget and waited for results. Those results haven't come. MIT's NANDA Initiative reports that 95% of enterprise GenAI pilots delivered no measurable P&L impact. Gartner says half are abandoned after proof of concept. CIO Dive reports that 74% of CIOs regret a major AI vendor decision made in the past 18 months. So the CEO has taken the wheel. BCG's 2026 survey: nearly three out of four CEOs are now their company's chief decision maker on AI. The question they're asking has changed too. Not which tools to pilot. Which integrated partner can deliver outcomes across data, security, governance, talent, and operations so AI investment actually produces business results. We wrote a perspective on what that shift means for mid-market companies, why pilots stalled, and what the integrated operating model looks like in practice.
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