AI spend will jump 49.5% in 2026, says Gartner

Worldwide AI spending will increase 49.5% in 2026, to $2.7 trillion, and grow another 36.2% in 2027 as AI usage continues to expand, Gartner predicts in the latest quarterly update to its IT spending forecast. But there’s been no diversion of money from other areas of IT to feed AI, said Gartner Distinguished VP Analyst John-David Lovelock . CIOs got some net new money for AI back in 2024, and a little in 2025, he said, “so there wasn’t a diversion, and now more of their spending is about rebran