The PE CxO AI Report
Use-case selection beats AI spending.
The CEO sets ambition. The CFO has to prove value. The best CEOs close that gap.
Gartner's May research pulls the AI conversation away from spending and toward deployment quality. Michelle Carlsen's research argues that CFOs gain competitive advantage from strategic AI deployment, not AI spending levels — while Gartner's CEO/CFO work shows CEOs are more likely than CFOs to see AI as a growth and profit-model lever.
That gap matters because the CFO scorecard now has a new top line: AI ROI. The CEO should set ambition, but the CFO has to prove value. The best CEOs close that gap instead of letting it slow the company down.
The CEO check: align CEO and CFO on which use cases carry the number — before the board asks.