Good morning. Just three years ago, most companies treated generative AI like an uncertain curiosity. Today, it’s hard to find a Fortune 500 company that isn’t rethinking core processes to leverage it—momentum that’s only accelerating as 2026 approaches.
Leaders are no longer debating whether generative AI will matter; they are racing to determine how to operationalize it. That shift was the topic of my conversation with Wharton marketing professor Stefano Puntoni, co-director of the Wharton Human-AI Research (WHAIR) initiative. Puntoni noted that generative AI adoption is progressing at an eye-opening pace. “I don’t think there’s any company that now says, ‘Generative AI isn’t for us,’” he said.
The third annual WHAIR study, conducted with GBK Collective, underscores this acceleration, Puntoni told me. A survey of 800 senior leaders in finance, IT, HR, and other functions at U.S. companies with more than $50 million in annual revenue found that 88% expect to increase generative AI investment in the next year, and 62% expect budgets to rise by more than 10% within two to five years.
This marks a sharp reversal from 2023, when concerns around data leakage, regulatory liability, and consumer protection—especially in heavily regulated industries—led many companies to ban generative AI outright, Puntoni explained. Today, most enterprises are moving ahead and figuring out optimal implementation with guardrails, he said. “I think it’s going to take a decade to really find out how to use this technology, but it’s improving so rapidly,” he added.
Usage patterns show the shift. In 2023, only 37% of senior leaders used generative AI weekly. Now, 82% do, and 46% report daily use, according to the report. Because generative AI is a general-purpose technology, Puntoni and his colleagues expect usage to reach near-universal levels. “Half of senior leaders in a large sample of corporate America are saying that they’re using a tool every day; that is really quite incredible,” he said.
Measuring progress
Leaders appear optimistic about returns. Nearly three-quarters of respondents said their companies track ROI through metrics such as profitability, productivity, and throughput, according to the report. Four out of five expect positive returns within two to three years, with top executives more optimistic than mid-level managers.
Still, progress varies by company size. Larger enterprises are seeing slower results as they manage complex integrations, while midsized and smaller firms report quicker progress. Tech, banking, and professional services firms are among the sectors making strides.
The ROI reports rely on self-assessments rather than hard evidence, Puntoni said. Many organizations are still refining how they measure success, often focusing on intermediate metrics. “We should look at this data as more like a vibe of how they feel about it than hard evidence for what’s happening inside these companies,” he added.
MIT’s August report found that, based on its dataset, most firms struggle to generate immediate ROI from generative AI—from a profitability perspective—with back-office automation delivering the biggest impact. However, both the MIT and WHAIR reports highlight a persistent barrier: workforce skill gaps.
Wharton’s survey shows that 43% of leaders warn of “skill atrophy,” underscoring the need for better AI training programs. As generative AI matures in the enterprise, organizational readiness is paramount—leadership alignment, workforce skills, governance, and change management, not just technical capacity, according to the report.
Enterprise AI is already a major focus on Wall Street, and investors are watching closely as big tech companies and their customers scale adoption. As we head into 2026, a clearer question is emerging: not whether generative AI will create value, but how companies can build the skills, systems, and governance to capture it.
SherylEstradasheryl.estrada@fortune.com
Leaderboard
Jeremy Evans was promoted to executive vice president and CFO of Helios Technologies, Inc. (NYSE: HLIO), a provider of motion and electronic controls technology. Evans succeeds Michael Connaway, who has left the company after joining Helios on Oct. 13, 2025. The company stated Connaway’s departure is not related to any disagreement. Evans joined Helios on Jan. 24, 2024, and was promoted to chief accounting officer on Sept. 1, 2025. Before joining Helios, he accumulated 25 years of leadership experience with Tech Data, now TD SYNNEX Corporation, most recently serving as VP of accounting transformation.
Bryan Kyle was appointed CFO of Conga, a revenue lifecycle management platform provider. Kyle brings over 25 years of financial leadership experience across both private and publicly traded technology companies. Along with executing corporate finance strategies at Conga, he will oversee the financial integration of the planned PROS B2B acquisition.
Big Deal
The research found that about half of business owners believe the local (53%), national (48%), and global (45%) economies will improve over the next year. Many respondents said their confidence would increase with stabilization of tariff policy, cooling inflation, lower interest rates, and stronger supply chains.
Other key findings include that roughly three in five business owners are currently impacted by labor shortages. Of those affected, 50% are personally working more hours to cover staff shortages, and 40% are raising wages to attract more competitive talent. With the tight labor market, only 1% of business owners plan to lay off employees in the next 12 months, and 43% plan to hire more.
AI has become essential for business owners, with 77% having integrated it into their operations over the past five years. Among these, AI is used most for marketing, followed by content production, customer service, and inventory management. According to the Bank of America Institute, small business payments to tech services—including AI—were up nearly 7% year-over-year in September.
“Business owners are approaching the coming year with confidence and a clear focus on growth,” said Sharon Miller, president of Business Banking at Bank of America, in a statement.
Going deeper
“America’s path out of $38 trillion national debt crisis likely involves pushing up inflation and ‘eroding Fed independence,’ says JPMorgan Private Bank” is a Fortune report by Eleanor Pringle.
Pringle writes: “Business leaders, policymakers, and investors are growing increasingly concerned by the United States’s borrowing burden, currently sitting at $38.15 trillion. The worry isn’t necessarily the size of this debt, but rather America’s debt-to-GDP ratio—and hence, its ability to convince investors that it can reliably pay back that debt. It currently stands at about 120%.” You can read the complete report here.
Overheard
“Jeff Bezos, the founder of Amazon and one of the world’s wealthiest people, is throwing his money and time into an artificial intelligence start-up that he will help manage as its co-chief executive.”
—Bezos has helped fund a new AI startup called Project Prometheus, with $6.2 billion in backing, the New York Times’ Cade Metz reported.
