Answer. Not yet measured; the Ready for Anything capital-markets instrument asks whether AI is in the equity story and whether finance has signed off the payback case. What the rooms already show is the gap an equity story has to close: 70 percent of CEO-seat respondents expect AI payback inside six months and 42 percent of finance seats agree (bases 80 and 52), and 28 percent of finance-lane respondents have no clear AI budget (base 290).
Source. Executive and CFO AI Leverage Reports, September 2026. Open Future Forum, Enterprise AI Buying and Budget Index. Dataset DOI 10.5281/zenodo.21576019. Bases are unique people per instrument; bases under 40 are directional.
External comparator. PwC 29th CEO Survey: 30 percent of CEOs confident in revenue growth; 56 percent see no AI benefit yet. External figures are context only; the source is not affiliated with this page and does not endorse it.
Questions to ask.
- Reconcile every AI claim to the finance seat’s numbers
- Name the owner and the metric in the narrative
- State the pricing model and its recognition
- Disclose the agent-governance budget line
Last refreshed September 2026. First-party data for this seat is collected from October 2026; until then this page interprets the September editions and contains no new survey data. Part of The Sept Reports for dealmakers.
About Open Future Forum
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.
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About Murray Newlands
Murray Newlands is the founder of Open Future Forum and the host of its executive dinner series and research program. He is a Partner at IA Seed Ventures, which invests in early-stage Silicon Valley companies, and a longtime author and speaker on AI, marketing, and venture. He writes on AI, venture, and enterprise strategy at murraynewlands.substack.com. More at openfutureforum.com/about and murraynewlands.com.
Work These Questions with Dealmaking Peers
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