Answer. In the rooms, 21 percent of finance-lane respondents fund AI with money that would have gone to headcount (base 290). The claim is made most by the seat furthest from the people: 34 percent at the CEO seat, 19 percent at the finance seat. Half of marketing leaders say AI is doing the work of more people (base 127). The operating-model saving in a value-creation plan is a CEO claim that the CFO discounts by almost half.
Source. CFO, CEO, and CMO 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. Bain, April 2026: 40 percent of companies achieved under 10 percent cost reduction from AI; McKinsey State of AI 2026: 14 percent report AI reduced workforce size, less than half the share that expected it. External figures are context only; the source is not affiliated with this page and does not endorse it.
Questions to ask.
- Ask for roles not hired, not roles cut
- Reconcile the CEO’s substitution claim with the CFO’s budget
- Check which function the saving sits in
- Track the Substituter share by company each quarter
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.
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