Gartner: CIOs Must Balance AI Value With Risk, and Fast
InformationWeek, Monday, October 19th, 2026
AI spend is up 18-fold in two years, yet only 13% of CIOs see major value; Gartner urges a value-risk flywheel and AI governance platform.
At Gartner IT Symposium/Xpo, analysts said AI spending has grown 18-fold over two years while only 13% of CIOs report significant or transformational value, based on a survey of more than 2,000 IT executives.
Only 21% have agentic AI governance, yet 71% will deploy agentic AI within a year, a mismatch Kristin Moyer called out of alignment.
Daryl Plummer described a value-risk flywheel that balances speed with governance, citing IKEA reskilling 8,500 call center workers into design sales.
Gartner recommends limiting careless AI consumption, an internal AI control team and an AI governance platform as a system of record.