The October answer
Investors report measurable AI impact, but the operator data shows uneven cost and access controls. The CEO is their most frequently named AI buying owner. Portfolio-company value claims therefore need workflow-level support; an adoption count is insufficient.
What this edition adds
No comparable investor survey was fielded for this edition, so the ownership and impact figures are carried forward. The new material comes from operators and adds specific questions about production agents, cost visibility and access controls.
The diligence questions
For each material production agent, investors should be able to identify the owner, workflow cost, credential, accessible data and measured result. If a portfolio company cannot produce that record, deployment alone is weak evidence of operating leverage.
Portfolio findings
Ownership across portfolios
Who increasingly owns AI buying
| Answer | Count | Share |
|---|---|---|
| CEO | 124 | 51% |
| CIO or CTO | 59 | 24% |
| Too early to say | 53 | 22% |
| Individual teams | 45 | 18% |
| Bottom-up | 45 | 18% |
| CFO or finance | 30 | 12% |
Base 245; any mention, so shares can sum above 100 percent.
The CEO appears in 124 of 245 answers. Yet 53 respondents say it is too early to identify an owner, and 45 each cite individual teams and bottom-up adoption. Executive ownership is the most common answer, but it is not universal.
| Investor seniority | Base | CEO | CIO or CTO | Finance | Too early | Teams | Bottom-up |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Partner, founder or C-suite | 154 | 61% | 22% | 12% | 17% | 12% | 12% |
| VP, principal, director or head | 19 | 32% | 58% | 11% | 26% | 32% | 32% |
| Other titled respondent | 72 | 33% | 19% | 14% | 31% | 29% | 29% |
Title classification by keyword; any mention. The middle group is directional.
Ownership uncertainty also appears among senior investors: 17 percent of the partner, founder and C-suite group answer “too early to say.” Other titled respondents distribute ownership more broadly across teams and bottom-up adoption. Results for the 19-person middle group are directional.
Measurable impact
Portfolio impact
| Answer | Count | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Better products | 122 | 51% |
| Cutting costs | 83 | 35% |
| Helping customers | 81 | 34% |
| Nothing measurable yet | 37 | 16% |
Base 237; any mention, so shares can sum above 100 percent.
Eighty-six percent, or 205 of 237 respondents, selected at least one positive impact. This share is calculated respondent by respondent; it is not the inverse of the “nothing measurable” response because five people selected both that option and a positive result.
Impact by investor seniority
| Investor seniority | Base | Better products | Cost reduction | Customer help | Nothing measurable |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Partner, founder or C-suite | 150 | 51% | 35% | 34% | 13% |
| VP, principal, director or head | 18 | 78% | 44% | 56% | 11% |
| Other titled respondent | 69 | 46% | 33% | 29% | 23% |
Title classification by keyword; any mention. The 18-person middle group is directional.
Among partners, founders and C-suite investors, 51 percent name better products and 13 percent report nothing measurable. In the 69-person other-titled group, 23 percent report nothing measurable. The 18-person VP, principal, director and head group is too small for more than a directional reading.
Questions for portfolio-company boards
| Group | Base | Full visibility | Partial visibility | No visibility |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Exploring | 18 | 22% | 33% | 44% |
| Piloting | 14 | 36% | 43% | 21% |
| Deployed in production | 33 | 61% | 33% | 6% |
| Embedded (removing it would change our cost structure or hiring plan) | 10 | 50% | 50% | 0% |
Matched respondents answering both questions; base 75. Small row bases are directional.
The matched operator data gives investors a more useful diligence test than an adoption count alone. Full cost visibility is 22 percent among explorers and 61 percent among companies with production deployments, although the row bases are small. A value claim should therefore be supported by both an outcome record and a cost-and-control record.
Comparison with external research
McKinsey's 2026 State of AI reports broader AI scaling alongside limited enterprise-level financial impact and, for some organizations, cost constraints. The Open Future Forum data points to five records worth checking in diligence: agent count, workflow cost, identity, data access and measured return.
Questions this report answers
Who do investors see owning AI purchases?
The CEO leads at 51 percent, followed by the CIO or CTO at 24 percent; 22 percent say it is too early to tell (base 245, any mention).
Where is AI producing measurable portfolio impact?
Better products lead at 51 percent, cost reduction at 35 percent and customer help at 34 percent; 16 percent report nothing measurable (base 237, any mention).
What should investors ask portfolio companies?
Request the production-agent count and, for each material deployment, its workflow cost, identity, data access and measured result.
Key citable facts
- Fifty-one percent of investors name the CEO as the role increasingly owning AI buying across portfolios (base 245).
- Sixteen percent report nothing measurable yet across most portfolio companies (base 237).
- Eighty-six percent selected at least one positive portfolio impact (205 of 237 respondents).
- The share reporting at least one production agent exceeds the share reporting full real-time cost visibility by 36 percentage points across two questions from the same event (bases 75 and 77).
Methodology and limitations
This is a data note, not a new investor survey. Investor figures are carried forward and labeled. Operator figures come from a separate cohort and are not combined with the investor results. The 86 percent figure is the respondent-level share selecting at least one positive impact; it is not a measure of investment conviction. Five respondents selected “nothing measurable” alongside at least one positive impact.
Related reading
Citation
Suggested citation: Newlands, M. (2026). Investor AI Report, October 2026 data note. Open Future Forum.
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