Hey, C-Suite: Time To Get Your Hands Dirty With AI

InnovationEnterprise TechHey, C-Suite: Time To Get Your Hands Dirty With AIByJoe McKendrick,Senior Contributor.Forbes contributors publish independent expert analyses and insights. Joe McKendrick covers how technology moves markets and careersFollow AuthorMay 26, 2026, 11:00pm EDT--:-- / --:--This voice experience is generated by AI. Learn more.This voice experience is generated by AI. Learn more.Today's C-suite: AI focal pointgettyWhile the enthusiasm for AI is still over the top, business leaders are tamping down their expectations of it. CEOs, for one, are far less likely than a year ago to see AI as a growth engine. But yet, they continue to have high expectations for the year ahead.That’s the word from a new study of CEO attitudes published by the IBM Institute for Business Value, which finds that while 49% of top executives expected advanced AI – then defined as generative AI – to be driving business growth within a two-year period. This year, that number – now applied to agentic AI – dropped to 10%. Still, they see rapid progress on the horizon, with 74% expecting agentic AI to be delivering accelerated business growth by 2030. The IBM study is based on a survey of 2,000 CEOs from 33 geographies and 21 industries between February and April 2026, along with qualitative discussions. The value of AI is shrouded in mystery. Only 24% of business leaders admit they know how that value will come about. But they need to get much more involved than they have been when it comes to getting everyone on board with AI and steering it in the right direction.It comes down to vision, and this is something business leaders need to develop and propagate, the study’s authors urge. Importantly, such a vision needs to be built on customized data and models, not the large pre-trained models that will deliver sameness across companies. In the study, “CEOs who have defined a tailored AI vision are more optimistic about product and service innovation.” The future, they say, will...