Who Owns the AI Buying Decision Across Investor Portfolios?

The CEO, by a wide margin. In Open Future Forum's August 2026 investor data, 51 percent of 245 investor respondents say the CEO increasingly owns the AI buying decision across their portfolios, with the CIO or CTO a distant second at 24 percent and 22 percent saying it is too early to call.

The read is independently corroborated: operators inside companies name the CEO the most-frequent signer at 44 percent, and founders selling into enterprises report finance mentions doubling as sign-off consolidates. On where AI is landing, investors point to offense over defense: better products lead at 51 percent, ahead of cost cutting at 35 percent, while 16 percent of portfolios show nothing measurable yet.

Full data: Investor AI Report, August 2026.

Open Future Forum convenes venture, growth, and private equity investors alongside the operators its research measures. See upcoming events.