Definition. The share of companies where no single seat owns AI purchasing. September 2026: 11 percent, 2 at the CEO seat, 30 at technology.
The figure, seat by seat
The share of each chair reporting that no single seat owns AI purchasing. Same question, same rooms, four chairs.
| Chair | Says no single owner signs yet |
|---|---|
| CEO or founder (80) | 2 percent |
| Finance (52) | 15 percent |
| Technology (23), directional | 30 percent |
| Investor (20), directional | 20 percent |
Source: Open Future Forum, Enterprise AI Buying and Budget Index, September 2026 editions.
What changed since Edition 2
Edition 2 put the vacuum at 14 percent. Edition 3 reads 11 percent across the cumulative finance-lane base of 290, and 7 percent in the August cohort. In the same room, business-unit sign-off fell from 12 percent to 4. Decisions are being pulled out of individual departments faster than they are being assigned to a named owner, and the residue is what this construct counts.
How to read it
The finding is the gradient, not the headline. The vacuum is close to invisible from the top of the org chart, at 2 percent of the CEO seat, and most visible one and two levels down, at 15 percent of finance and 30 of technology, where the implementation actually sits. A board hearing only from the chief executive will hear that AI ownership is settled.
It also has a measurable cost. Investors who can name the AI owner in a portfolio company see nothing measurable in 9 percent of portfolios. Investors who say it is too early to name an owner see nothing measurable in 41 percent.
How it is measured. From the instrument questions in the application flow for Open Future Forum events, cut by the respondent’s seat from self-reported title. Bases are unique people per instrument; bases under 40 are directional. Full method: Executive AI Leverage Report, September 2026, Methodology and honesty notes.
Tracked figures. See the Trend by edition table in the current edition and the Executive AI Statistics page. Dataset DOI 10.5281/zenodo.21576019.
Why it matters. Unowned decisions are where AI spending goes unmeasured, and the seat least able to see the problem is the seat most often asked whether it exists. The series reports the current figure, the prior figure, and the change each edition.
Where it appears
Read in full in the Executive AI Leverage Report (Exhibit 3), with the seat view in the AI Leaders AI Leverage Report, the governance reading in the Board Director AI Governance Report, and the portfolio consequence in the Investor AI Report.
Cite as. Newlands, M. (2026). The Ownership Vacuum. Open Future Forum, Enterprise AI Buying and Budget Index. openfutureforum.com/research/definitions/ownership-vacuum
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.
Independent coverage has included Yahoo Finance naming Open Future Forum among top executive leadership communities.
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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