It is no longer enough to simply adopt artificial intelligence; the new imperative is to master its inherent tensions.
This shift marks a critical transition. AI has graduated from an emerging technology to a standardized enterprise tool, a move that has rewritten the C-suite's playbook. The Forbes Research 2025 AI Survey shows that as technology reaches operational maturity, the challenges that once defined AI's early days are not disappearing. They are evolving into a series of strategic tensions that leaders must manage simultaneously.
In August and September 2025, we surveyed 1,075 C-suite executives from global enterprises with annual revenues exceeding $1 billion, representing a diverse range of industries and geographies. Our findings show that as AI technology becomes integrated into the fabric of the enterprise, its challenges become less about basic implementation and more about strategic leadership.
One of the most complex AI challenges leaders today face is the gap between the technology's present impact and its future promise.
While a majority of organizations (56%) report achieving a limited ROI (under 5%) from their AI initiatives to date, and only 3% report substantial ROI (between 10% and 20%), the operational benefits are immense. Our data shows AI is delivering significant gains in enhanced decision-making (85%) and operational efficiency (84%), which is closely followed by better product or service quality (81%).
Executives are measuring this success not in dollars but in tangible operational metrics like improved data quality (50%) and employee productivity gains (48%).
The actionable takeaway? The data suggest a strategic focus that prioritizes leveraging AI for immediate operational impact to establish a sustainable foundation, rather than expecting single-source profit generation. This approach positions efficiency gains as the internal investment mechanism for funding future, higher-value initiatives where financial ROI will be more evident.
The C-suite remains the primary leader of AI strategy. C-level involvement in AI decision-making has skyrocketed since last year, with the chief executive officer's involvement jumping from 26% to 55%, the chief operating officer's from 2% to 41% and the chief financial officer's from 1% to 38%.
This reframing of AI as a core business driver is critical, but it's not without a strategic disconnect. While the chief information officer remains central and is now the most frequently involved role at 71%, more tactical roles like IT/technology managers (down from 67% to 48%) and Data Scientists/Analysts (down from 44% to 13%) have seen their involvement decline. This shift signals a move from implementation-focused decisions to high-level strategic oversight.
Broader C-suite involvement in AI purchase decisions is a sign of AI maturity. But there is a catch: Only 33% of executives report regular cross-functional coordination to ensure their initiatives succeed and remain adaptable. This means that while more leaders are involved in purchase decisions, they're often working in silos.
Additionally, only 37% of CHROs report having strategies to build multi-disciplinary teams that combine AI expertise with domain knowledge. Progress will depend on leaders who have shared goals and collaborate consistently as a team to encourage holistic integration.
Our research confirms that AI is a powerful catalyst for new ideas, with 71% of executives rating it as good or excellent at increasing the quality or amount of innovation.
However, far fewer (48%) say it's good or excellent at lowering the cost of that innovation. This highlights a critical, often-overlooked challenge. While AI can create a new universe of possibilities, it doesn't automatically make the creative process itself more efficient.
The data points to a strategic imperative to bridge this disconnect: Successful AI mastery requires focusing the technology not only on generating new ideas but on optimizing the entire innovation pipeline to achieve faster and more cost-efficient results.
The conversation around AI and the workforce has matured, shifting focus from job replacement to collaboration and transformation.
While 67% of executives expect that 5% or more of jobs will be "changed" by AI in the next two years, 94% predict that fewer than 5% will be eliminated in the same timeframe. A majority of leaders (59%) now say AI will ultimately create rather than eliminate job opportunities, a significant increase from 33% just last year.
This shift is reflected in strategies to address the AI talent gap, with top approaches including developing employees' AI skills through training (57%) and implementing mentorship and career growth programs (54%).
As AI becomes deeply integrated into business functions, so do its risks.
A majority of leaders agree that AI exacerbates the challenge of keeping cybersecurity measures up to date (62%) and that AI-powered threats may render current cyber protections obsolete every few months (63%), up from just 29% last year.
This heightened threat level is a core reason why 71% of leaders report significant concern with ensuring the safe and compliant AI use. This tension is further complicated by the fact that while using proprietary data for training AI models is seen as a key competitive advantage (74%), ensuring data privacy is cited as a major barrier by 81% of executives.
The shift from a world of AI adoption to one of mastery means that C-suite leaders are not just making technological decisions; they are making strategic bets on the future of their enterprise.
Our study reveals that as they do, they must actively wrangle with AI's inherent tensions. They must learn to balance its powerful operational impact against its promised but delayed financial ROI. They must also confront the truth that while C-level involvement is at an all-time high, the complexity of AI's challenges requires a deeper, more committed level of learning.
Simultaneously, they are tasked with using AI to fuel innovation and growth, but in a way that is also efficient and cost-effective. The C-suite must also lead their organizations in reframing the conversation around talent from job replacement to one of human-AI collaboration and skill development, all while addressing the critical cybersecurity risks that AI introduces.
The most successful leaders will recognize the new era of AI is a strategic marathon, not a single-minded sprint, requiring them to embrace these tensions and focus on mastering the tools they already have to create enterprise value.