Wharton Study: 80% of Enterprises See AI Returns, but Only 28% Achieve Strong ROI
Techstrong.ai, Wednesday, October 14th, 2026
Wharton and GBK Collective find most firms see positive AI returns, but strong ROI depends on growth metrics and leadership.
A survey of 1,416 U.S. enterprise leaders and employees by Wharton and GBK Collective found that 80% report positive AI ROI but only 28% report strongly positive results.
Departments measuring AI against growth metrics such as net-new revenue were nearly three times as likely to see strong ROI as those measuring efficiency alone (35% vs. 13%).
Firms with a chief AI officer reported 58% strong ROI versus 24%, and those standardized on one approved platform reported 50% versus 9%.
Only 17% let agents act autonomously, and overall excitement about AI fell 8% for the first time in the study.