🇿🇦 English, 23 October 2026, boardroom gap
Most Boards Approving AI Spend Have Barely Used the Technology
Directors approving AI investments have limited experience with the technology, leading to disappointing returns.
The directors approving AI spend have, for the most part, barely used the technology. They are signing off budgets, strategies, and risk appetites for a technology they have met mostly in slide decks. The problem is not intelligence or diligence, but exposure.
A recent survey by Deloitte found that 66% of board members and executives have limited or no knowledge of AI, and almost a third said AI was not on the board agenda at all. This lack of experience is reflected in the disappointing returns on AI investments, with 95% of generative AI pilots delivering little or no measurable effect on profit and loss.