AI will eat a fifth of tech budgets in 2027, but don't expect it to pay for itself

More than half of CIOs are likely to miss their AI-related ROI targets next year, according to Forrester. The analyst's State Of AI Survey 2026 found that 45 percent of AI decision-makers need positive ROI within a year to consider their investments successful. Some tech leaders will get better at tying AI spend to planned returns.