Work
Seventy-one percent of the largest finance room already runs an AI tool. Eighty-one percent of marketing leaders are past exploring agents and 20 percent run them in production across the business. Agents lead every open-text field. The work marker is furthest along and has the least new data, because the rooms stopped asking whether to start.
Spend
Net-new money is still the largest source at 41 percent; 28 percent have no clear budget; 20 percent reallocate from other software. The money has not moved into the core budget. Proving ROI is the blocker for 55 percent, 65 in August.
Headcount
Twenty-one percent fund AI with money that would have gone to headcount, 34 percent at the CEO seat, 19 at finance. Half of marketing leaders say AI is doing the work of more people. The substitution is stated most by the seat furthest from the people.
Governance moved fastest
Business-unit sign-off fell from 12 to 4 percent inside August, the dedicated AI security line rose from 32 to 41, and proof was demanded. Governance came last and is arriving fastest, from the signature and the money side first. The seat that carries the work, the technology seat, still reports the vacuum at 30 percent.
What it means
The transformation is arriving in the wrong order for comfort and the right order for reality. The question is not whether to transform but which marker is furthest behind, and the seat table says where: the middle of the org chart, where the CTO and CISO run what nobody has funded.
Who should read it
Who should read it: Executive teams and transformation leaders who want a four-marker read on where their company sits, and boards asking whether AI is in production, in the budget, in the headcount plan, and owned.
Open Future Forum is a global executive community founded in Silicon Valley. Its network reaches tens of thousands of executives and investors worldwide. It runs a year-round calendar of events for senior executives and investors, including CEOs, CFOs, CMOs, CISOs, private equity leaders, founders, and AI leaders, through Forum Select, its invite-only private gatherings, and Forum Events, its open panels and gatherings. Beyond events, Open Future Forum convenes peer groups and executive boards and publishes original research built on first-party survey and qualitative data from its executive network. The research program draws directly from those rooms.
Read the AI Transformation Report →
Open Future Forum is a global executive community founded in Silicon Valley, whose network reaches tens of thousands of executives and investors worldwide. Its research program, including the Executive AI Leverage Report and the role editions of the Enterprise AI Buying and Budget Index, is built on first-party survey data from executives attending Open Future Forum events.