AI ROI: Rising Investment and Elusive Returns (Deloitte Feb 2026)

Summary

Enterprises are increasing AI spend (85% increased in the past 12 months, 91% planning more) but ROI is slow: most achieve satisfactory ROI in two to four years, not the 7–12 months typical for tech investments; only 6% see payback within one year. MIT 2025 work found 95% of enterprise AI pilots fail to deliver measurable financial returns, while other surveys (e.g. Google Cloud, Gartner) show 74% ROI in year one and early adopters reporting ~15.8% revenue increase and 15.2% cost savings. Cost u