Dive Brief:
- Chief executives are optimistic about AI’s potential, with almost two-thirds now worrying they’re underinvesting in the technology, according to Cisco's survey of 2,500 CEOs across 23 countries.
- Infrastructure modernization ranks as CEOs’ top technology priority for 2026, while fragmented data and AI security remain key obstacles of deployment.
- Despite prioritizing AI agent deployment, 72% of CEOs expect humans to retain oversight of AI systems through 2030.
Dive Insight:
Cisco's research found 69% of CEOs view AI adoption as essential to remaining competitive, yet more than half believe their existing infrastructure could limit AI initiatives.
That concern is having an effect on executive priorities, with 40% of CEOs ranking infrastructure modernization as their top business priority for 2026, followed by upskilling teams to handle AI workloads, deploying AI agents alongside employees, measuring AI's business impact and strengthening governance.
For CIOs, the findings indicate that AI implementation is becoming less about experimenting with models and more about modernizing the enterprise foundations that support them.
Cisco's 2025 AI Readiness Index, which published in October, surveyed more than 8,000 IT leaders globally and suggested many organizations still have significant work to do.
Fewer than one-quarter said their networks are fully optimized for AI workloads, while only 19% said enterprise in-house data is fully centralized and accessible for AI applications.
Taken together, the findings suggest infrastructure, security and data management have become the primary bottlenecks to AI deployment. Without addressing those issues, organizations could struggle to generate returns from growing AI investments.
CEO understanding of AI has, however, increased, with fewer than half of those surveyed saying a lack of knowledge hindered boardroom discussions, down from 74% last year.
Similarly, the proportion who said it prevented informed decision-making dropped from 74% to 49%.
As AI awareness improves, executive conversations appear to be shifting from what to deploy to how organizations can deploy AI responsibly and at scale.
That emphasis is also reflected in chief executives’ views on governance. While AI agents are expected to take on a larger role across business operations, almost three-fourths of CEOs said they expect humans to retain oversight of AI systems through 2030.
