CFOs expect the most obvious thing to happen to AI budgets

Life’s hard, and the world is weird. They’re sending Slurpees and chicken nuggets into space. Some guy turned his CVS receipt into a 50-foot rug.

And don’t get us started on the news news. The center ain’t holding.

Every now and then, though, something glaringly obvious happens, and we have to breathe a sigh of release. “All’s well that makes reasonable sense,” we say to ourselves.

That’s the case with the topline findings from a recent Gartner survey: 90% of CFOs expected AI budgets to increase in 2024. And zero percent expected a decrease in spending.

The findings are based on a December budgeting and spending poll of more than 300 CFOs and senior finance leaders. And we can’t help but think that common sense also played a role, given the excitement we hear from just about every CFO when it comes to AI.

“As AI spending increases, CFOs have a unique role to play both in determining how it will impact finance department structure, and—given their holistic understanding of core business value drivers that this technology could put at risk—in establishing proper enterprise-wide governance that balances opportunity and oversight,” Alexander Bant, chief of research for Gartner’s finance practice, said in a statement tied to the report.

The survey also found that 71% of CFOs expected to amp up AI spending by 10% or more compared to 2023. More broadly, technology was the top expected increase for 2024 budgets: 82% of CFOs planned to spend more on tech in 2024, and AI was the key driver.

We’ve got Captain Obvious on speed dial, and for once, we’re glad.