EY Executive: Only 1 in 10 Companies Can Prove AI ROI

At The Information's AI Agenda event held in September 2026, EY executive Dan DiAsio said companies have yet to see meaningful revenue growth or cost reductions from AI adoption. He noted that only one in ten companies can demonstrate AI-generated returns on their income statements, adding that corporate AI spending is currently "driven by enthusiasm, not evidence of actual returns."

DiAsio said many clients express frustration about not seeing clear ROI, a complaint that has persisted for one to two years. This helps explain why numerous software and AI vendors have cut prices to encourage enterprise adoption. Over the past year, providers such as Anthropic have widely promoted usage-based pricing, which has pushed up AI bills and prompted companies to become more cautious and shift toward open-source models to reduce costs.

Some companies, including Block, have used AI as a rationale for layoffs. Block executive Owen Jennings said AI investments have "significantly accelerated" gross profit, allowing the company to deliver products without maintaining its previous headcount. He described layoffs as a "forcing function" to push employees to work more efficiently with AI tools.

Chris Taylor, CEO of Ode—a joint venture backed by Anthropic and Blackstone—said AI returns take time to materialize. He noted that income statements are lagging indicators, and it takes a long cycle from AI project deployment to measurable business impact.

Atlassian's Chief Product and AI Officer Tama Yehoshua said the company launched a feature in February 2026 allowing customers to connect external AI chatbots and coding agents from OpenAI and Anthropic to data stored on its platform. She called the decision correct, saying it increased customer engagement, and dismissed concerns that large model labs would take over the traditional software market.