Introduction by Randy Bean
I first began surveying the most senior data leaders of Fortune 1000 and leading global organizations in 2012.
The survey was undertaken at the behest of a group of Fortune 1000 CIOs and data leaders who were looking to understand whether it was time to expand and accelerate data and analytics initiatives and investments within their organizations, and not view these initiatives as “just another data project”.
Much has changed over the course of these years, spurred on by the rapid emergence of AI.
The survey findings that I have published annually since 2012 have become an established industry benchmark of data & AI leadership in leading global and Fortune 1000 companies.
These findings are covered annually in publications, including Forbes, Harvard Business Review, and MIT Sloan Management Review, and were referenced in The Wall Street Journal and The Economist:
- The Necessity of Building Strong Data & AI Executive Leadership for An AI Future | Forbes
- Survey: GenAI Is Making Companies More Data Oriented | Harvard Business Review
- Five Key Trends in AI and Data Science for 2024 | MIT Sloan Management Review.
The survey is uniquely distinguished by its highly curated participation, on an invitation-only basis to the most senior AI & data leaders of Fortune 1000 and leading global organizations.
The response to this year’s survey had greater participation than any previous year in the survey’s history — comprised of executives who served in the most senior data & AI leadership roles of 125 Fortune 1000 and leading global organizations during 2024. This year, 97.6% of survey respondents identified as C-executives or C-executive equivalents within their organization, with 90.6% of respondents holding the title of Chief Data Officer, Chief Data & Analytics Officer, Chief AI Officer, or Enterprise or Global Head of Data & AI.
Executive Summary of Findings
Notable among the principal findings of this year’s survey are seven distinct trends:
- Organizational Investment in Data & AI — The rapid emergence of AI, notably Generative AI, is fueling increased organizational investment in AI & data, with data & AI seen as a top organizational priority by a growing percentage of organizations. Overall investment in AI & data is increasing, with an increased focus on the importance of data, spurred by the recognition that great AI relies on great data.
- Delivering Business Value from Data & AI Investment — AI initiatives are at an early stage for most Fortune 1000 companies. Progress is accelerating, with more initiatives moving into production as firms are beginning to deliver measurable business value from their data & AI investments. Organizations see AI/Generative AI as delivering business value in several important ways.
- Organizational Adoption and Transformation — Organizational adoption and transformation resulting from AI is seen as steady, but gradual. A minority of organizations claim to be data/AI driven or having established a data/AI business culture. Most organizations continue to struggle with adoption and transformation, with cultural challenges noted as the greatest obstacle to progress.
- Responsible AI, Safeguards, and Guardrails — Responsible AI is seen as an increasing priority for most organizations, as they focus on establishing safeguards and guardrails to ensure responsible AI utilization. More work needs to be done. Threats of misinformation and disinformation, as well as ethical bias, are ongoing concerns, as is the recognition that more AI talent is needed, and corporate boards require greater education on AI.
- Data & AI Leadership Progress — Data & AI leadership is in high demand, with more organizations having appointed Chief Data Officers (CDO/CDAO), and a significant percentage of organizations adding Chief Artificial Intelligence Officers (CAIO). More data & AI executives are focusing on delivering business value through growth and innovation, and reporting to business leaders.
- Data & AI Leadership Challenges — The CDO role continues to be very much a work in progress as organizational data & AI needs rapidly evolve. The CDO role is characterized by high turnover, short tenures, and not being well understood. While CDOs face headwinds as organizational change agents, most believe that the role is evolving in the right direction.
- An AI Future — Organizations strongly believe in the transformational impact of AI, foreseeing significant opportunity for productivity and efficiency gains. Some firms are looking at AI as a growth engine. Most executives view AI as the most transformational technology in a generation, with the potential benefits clearly outweighing the potential risks.
Participation
The 2025 survey is characterized by the largest and most diverse participation in the survey’s history – reflected in the balance of industry and geographic representation, and the seniority of participants:
- The largest representation is from financial services firms, which comprise 40.2% of survey respondents – in contrast to 66.3% financial services representation five years ago.
- Other industries comprise 59.8% of survey respondents — with the highest participation from healthcare and life sciences firms, and retail and consumer package goods companies — comprising 29.1% of survey participants.
- Industry representation encompasses companies and organizations operating in energy, telecommunications, manufacturing, automotive, airlines, media, sports, entertainment, and government — comprising 30.7% of survey respondents.
- This year, 15% of survey respondents are from companies and organizations located outside of North America, an increase from 7.4% in last year’s survey.
Finding 1 | Organizational Investment in Data & AI
The rapid emergence of AI, notably Generative AI, is fueling increased organizational investment in AI & data, with data & AI seen as a top organizational priority by a growing percentage of organizations. Overall investment in AI & data is increasing, with an increased focus on the importance of data, spurred by the recognition that great AI relies on great data.
There has been an increase in organizational investment in Data & AI initiatives of close to 20% from 82.2% in 2024 to a near-unanimous 98.4% in 2025.
There has also been an increasing percentage of organizations are viewing investments in Data & AI as a top organizational priority – up from 87.9% in 2024 to a strong 90.5% in 2025.
Further, as a consequence of the rapid increase in interest and commitment to AI investment, organizations are now focusing on their data initiatives. It is increasingly understood that the quality of AI is largely dependent upon the quality of the data that is available.
The survey respondent data strongly suggests that organizations are seeing Data & AI become central to their business plans, now and in the years ahead.
Finding 2 | Delivering Business Value from Data & AI Investment
AI initiatives are at an early stage for most Fortune 1000 companies. Progress is accelerating, with more initiatives moving into production as firms are beginning to deliver measurable business value and organizations see AI and generative AI as delivering business value in several ways.
AI implementation efforts are still at an early stage for most organizations — 76.1% in experimentation, testing, and limited production. At the same time, organizations have made considerable progress during the past year, evidenced by an increase of those in limited production — from 24.7% in 2024 to 47.4% in 2025, and an increase in those implementing AI in production, at-scale – up from 4.9% in 2024 to 23.9% in 2025.
Additionally, 46.4% of organizations report a high or significant level of business value from their data and AI investments.
Finding 3 | Organizational Adoption and Transformation
Organizational adoption and transformation resulting from AI is steady, but gradual. A minority of organizations claim to be data or AI driven or having established a data or AI business culture. Most organizations continue to struggle with adoption and transformation, with cultural challenges noted as the greatest obstacle.
Over 90% of Fortune 1000 companies are legacy firms that were founded over a generation ago, with many firms dating back well over a century. These firms historically transformed their operations over time, taking a gradual approach to mitigate business risks. Many of these firms operate in regulated industries with deep customer franchises, and approach transformational initiatives with an abundance of caution.
Cultural challenges continue to represent the greatest impediment to transformation, largely due to human factors relating to people – business process change, organizational alignment, talent and skills, change management, and resistance to change. Technology is not viewed as an impediment to business transformation.
Finding 4 | Responsible AI, Safeguards, and Guardrails
Responsible AI an increasing priority as organizations focus on establishing safeguards and guardrails to ensure responsible AI utilization. Threats of misinformation and disinformation, as well as ethical bias, are ongoing concerns, as is the recognition that more AI talent is needed, and corporate boards require greater AI education.
Organizations are increasingly prioritizing Responsible AI to establish the necessary safeguards and guardrails that will ensure secure AI adoption and organizational transformation. This reflects a growing consensus that there is a need for Responsible AI adoption, and a recognition of the gap between the present state and the goal.
Progress toward Responsible AI is illustrated by the improvement from 62.9% in 2024 to 77.6% in 2025 in organizations having implemented Responsible AI safeguards and guardrails. Talent continues to be a limiting factor, with 43.5% of organizations currently falling short in their efforts to recruit the talent required to ensure Responsible AI implementation.
The spread of misinformation and disinformation is perceived as the greatest threat and risk factor posed by AI, up from 44.3% in 2024 to 53.2% in 2025.
Finding 5 | Data & AI Leadership Progress
Data & AI leadership is in high demand, with more organizations having appointed CDOs or CDAOs, and a significant percentage of organizations adding Chief Artificial Intelligence Officers (CAIO). More data & AI executives are focusing on delivering business value through growth and innovation, and reporting to business leaders.
Data & AI leadership is in high demand. The percentage of organizations having appointed CDO/CDAO roles has risen from 12% in 2012 to 84.3% in 2025. This is combined with the emergence of the new CAIO role. It is a testament to the surging rise of AI that 33.1% of organizations report having filled this role, while 43.9% believe that a CAIO should be appointed.
Concurrent with this expansion of the data & AI leadership functions, organizations are moving decisively to focusing on offensive initiatives – growth, innovation, and transformation, with an increase from 54.6% five years ago, to 62.3% in 2024, to 80% in 2025.
There is still no consensus on data & AI leadership reporting. While more firms now see data & AI leadership (CDO/CDAO/CAIO) as a business role, 47.2% see it as a technology function. The CDO/CDAO/CAIO is now a peer to the CIO in many organizations.
Finding 6 | Data & AI Leadership Challenges
The CDO role continues to be a work in progress as data & AI needs rapidly evolve. The CDO role is characterized by high turnover, short tenures, and not being well understood. While CDOs face headwinds as organizational change agents, most believe that the role is evolving in the right direction.
CDOs and CDAOs are continuing to struggle to be successful, with just 47.6% characterizing the role as very successful, while 52.4% see the role as nascent and evolving, a revolving door, or even as a failure – 4.8%. Furthermore, the role is viewed as not well understood by 48.7% of organizations.
CDOs continue to have brief tenures – 24.1% under two years, and 53.7% under three years. Positively, most – 70.8% – believe that the CDO will become a permanent C-Suite role, while 29.2% believe it will disappear. Most – 65.2% – believe that the CDO role is evolving in the right direction. Organizations will need strong data & AI leadership in the years ahead, in whatever form this takes.
Finding 7 | An AI Future
Organizations strongly believe in the transformational impact of AI, foreseeing significant opportunity for productivity and efficiency gains. AI is seen as a growth engine and most executives view AI as the most transformational technology in a generation, with the benefits outweighing the risks.
Spurred by the introduction of generative AI, AI has captured the imagination and attention of business leaders for the past two years. While 23.8% of organizations have been using AI for under two years, 76.2% have been using AI for three years or longer, 16.7% have been using AI for over a decade, and 4.7% have been working with AI for a quarter century. The evolution of computing power and speed, and the capture and maintenance of massive amounts of data, have helped enable the present state of AI.
What does the future look like? Most organizations believe that AI will be the transformational technology in a generation, akin to the Internet. The percentage of organizations that believe in a future transformed by AI rose from 64.2% in 2024 to 89% in 2025. Generative AI is expected to be the most transformative form of AI, according to 61%, but machine learning – 22.3% – and AGI –16.1% – have its share of believers.
Techno optimism prevails, even with fears of disinformation and misinformation, 96.6% of organizations see the overall impact of AI as beneficial.
Randy Bean is DataIQ’s Knowledge Expert and Business Advisor for North America.
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