Macroeconomic Indicators & Trends

October 14, 2026

AI Spending: Waiting on ROI, Watching the Bill

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Torsten Slok

Partner, Chief Economist

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A new survey by Mavvrik and Benchmarkit of 396 enterprises finds that companies are adopting AI faster than they are building the financial controls to keep its costs in check.

Only 11% of firms forecast their AI spending within 10% of actual, down from 15% last year, see chart below.

The survey also shows that those misses are changing decisions, with 62% of firms saying an unexpected AI cost altered a business decision and one in four delaying or canceling an AI initiative.

The impact is showing up in profitability too, with 81% of companies reporting moderate-to-high gross margin impact from AI costs, including 63% who see a 6 to 15 percentage point decrease.

The bottom line is that we are still waiting for the ROI from AI investments, and this survey shows that while we wait, costs continue to surprise and become harder to predict and control.

For more see here and here.

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