American CEOs bet big on AI despite uncertain returns
NEW YORK, UNITED STATES — Artificial intelligence (AI) has become a top investment priority for CEOs, according to a recent survey by KPMG.
The poll of 400 U.S. chief executives found over two-thirds view investment in generative AI as a primary focus for their companies in the coming years.
“This is not hype,” said KPMG US Chair Paul Knopp in an interview with Yahoo Finance Live. “It will be disruptive, and CEOs are paying close attention.”
However, 62% of CEOs believe returns on these investments may take 3-5 years to materialize, according to the KPMG survey. Just 23% of CEOs expect returns within 1-3 years, indicating significant uncertainty around AI’s near-term impact.
“AI investments are still nascent, focused on ideation,” said Knopp. “We anticipate growing use cases across industries. It will be disruptive, as our CEO survey reflected.”
Previously, some CEO surveys revealed that almost half of their workforce is unprepared for AI while some business leaders are divided regarding the potential threat of AI to humanity.
The release of ChatGPT by AI startup OpenAI has accelerated interest in AI, prompting major moves by Amazon, Meta, Zoom and others. Goldman Sachs predicts global AI investments approaching $200 billion by 2025, with long-term estimates of up to 4% of U.S. GDP.
Microsoft, Amazon and Google are poised to lead corporate AI spending, says Jefferies analyst Brent Thill, though he cautioned against a “zero-sum game.”
