The CFO took the pen
Across the finance rooms through July, the CFO was named on a third of AI sign-off answers. In the one room that registered in August, CFOs on the Bay, it was named on 43 percent. In the same room business-unit sign-off fell from 12 to 4 percent and "no single owner" from 12 to 7. The CEO is still the most-named signer, at 47 percent of 290 operators and 51 percent of 245 investors. What changed is who co-signs.
Proof got demanded
Proving ROI as the blocker rose from 53 to 65 percent inside August, and the share expecting payback inside six months fell from 55 to 48. The Optimism Gap held at 28 points: 70 percent of CEO-seat respondents expect return inside six months, 42 percent of finance seats agree. Finance's most common answer is six to twelve months.
Security got a number
Sixty-seven percent of 110 senior security leaders name securing AI agents and their access as their top problem, 75 percent in August. Thirty-five percent hold a dedicated AI security budget line. That distance, 30 points, is the Security Funding Gap, and it is widest at the CISO's own chair, 45 points.
Marketing split three ways
Asked for the first time where AI makes the biggest difference, marketing leaders tied: doing the work of more people 50 percent, knowing the customer better 43, creating content faster 43. Eleven percent see nothing measurable. Eighty-one percent are past exploring agents.
Investors who can name the owner see the return
The sharpest new finding is on the capital side. Investors who can name who owns AI in their portfolio companies see nothing measurable in 9 percent of cases. Investors who say it is too early to name an owner see nothing measurable in 41 percent. Named ownership and measured value travel together.
What is new this month
Seat cuts on every instrument and vertical cuts from company data in every report. Two new lanes in preview, AI Leaders and Board Director. A companion VC & CVC edition. Reader editions for private equity, general counsel, and capital markets. Five tracked definitions with their own pages. And "Tested against the record" in every report: each edition's findings set against BCG, McKinsey, PwC, Gartner, IBM, Bain, ICONIQ, and the rest, with a verdict on each.
Who should read it
Who should read it: Any executive who signs, funds, builds, secures, or invests in AI, and anyone who has to explain one of those to a board.
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 Executive AI Leverage 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.