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PwC CEO Survey finds reinvention winners in an AI, risk-heavy year
AI Turns Leaked Secrets Into Instant Attacks, CEOs Push Reinvention Amid Risk, AI Spend Surges Toward $2.5T
Aimply Team & Zack Tembi
January 26, 2026
AI Turns Leaked Secrets Into Instant Attacks, CEOs Push Reinvention Amid Risk, AI Spend Surges Toward $2.5T
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Welcome to this week’s edition of CIOsurge!
This week:
PwC’s CEO survey shows AI investment continuing without consistent returns, while leaders pursue reinvention beyond core businesses and expect technology to deliver both growth and resilience.
Gartner’s $2.52T AI spending forecast signals mounting pressure on infrastructure budgets, making governance, workflow focus, and vendor consolidation critical before agentic AI sprawl sets in.
Let’s make this week a game-changer.
Stay sharp. Stay ahead.
PwC CEO Survey finds reinvention winners in an AI, risk-heavy year
PwC’s 29th Global CEO Survey of 4,454 CEOs finds confidence slipping while threats rise. AI investment continues, but results are uneven: 30% report AI-driven revenue gains and 26% report cost cuts, while 56% see neither. Many CEOs are also pushing reinvention by entering new sectors, with 42% doing so in the past five years.
What matters here is the gap between spend and proof. Too many organizations are buying “AI capability” without the foundations that make it compounding: governed data, secure integration, clear use cases tied to revenue or cost, and an operating model that can actually scale adoption.
The other signal is strategic, not technical. CEOs are looking for growth outside their core sectors and pairing that with heightened cyber and geopolitical risk. That means our job expands: we have to enable reinvention while strengthening resilience, and we have to show the board how technology choices translate into margin, speed, and trust.
- Zack Tembi
Gartner: AI spending to hit $2.52T in 2026 as agents and M&A accelerate
Gartner forecasts global AI spending will rise 44% to $2.52T in 2026, led by infrastructure, as more software bundles genAI and agentic tools spread. Yet many firms remain stuck in pilots due to governance, security, skills, and weak ROI, while consolidation picks up as platforms buy point solutions.
The number matters less than the mix. If infrastructure is still eating most of the spend, we should assume continued pressure on cloud, data center, and networking budgets, plus tougher board questions about what we are getting back for that run rate.
Agentic AI is the warning label here. Lots of deployments, few in production, and reported productivity losses from low quality outputs. For CIOs, the work is boring but decisive: tighten governance, choose a small set of high value workflows, measure outcomes, and standardize on fewer vendors before the pruning starts.
- Zack Tembi
🗞️ At A Glance
💡 CIO Spotlights
Adobe’s new CIO Lucius DiPhillips brings Airbnb-honed AI playbook
Lucius DiPhillips joins Adobe as CIO, taking charge of global Technology Services as the company scales AI-driven innovation.
Formerly CIO at Airbnb, DiPhillips led major platform modernization, AI adoption, and cost-efficiency gains across a global tech org.
With 25+ years across eBay, PayPal, and Bank of America, he’s tasked with strengthening Adobe’s digital foundation for its next growth phase.
IonQ elevates Leslie Kershaw to CISO as security stakes rise
Leslie Kershaw moves from IonQ Capella into an expanded Chief Information Security Officer role at IonQ, reflecting growing security demands as the company scales.
With nearly 20 years in cyber operations, Kershaw brings deep experience from military and industry roles, including leading cyber readiness for the U.S. Space Force.
As CISO, she will own enterprise and physical security, ensuring federal and commercial cyber requirements keep pace with IonQ’s rapid expansion.
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