AI trends and industry insights
AI adoption is surging—but AI spend is rising with it
As AI becomes embedded across the enterprise, organizations are moving faster, but leaders also face new questions about how to fund, govern, track and optimize AI. As AI usage scales, organizations are increasingly focused on AI governance, AI usage tracking and understanding the true cost of AI across the enterprise.
Drawing on findings from the Flexera 2026 State of ITAM Report, KPMG’s Global AI Pulse Q2 2026 and Gartner®, this infographic explores how AI is moving from experimentation into everyday enterprise workflows—and why rising adoption is putting new pressure on cost visibility, governance and measurable business value.
Enterprises are rapidly increasing AI investment
AI adoption is accelerating across organizations, with spending holding steady and deployments expanding into core business workflows. Confidence is rising, and most companies now see AI as a long-term priority.
Statistic 1
188M
average planned AI spend 1
Statistic 2
47%
forecasted increase in AI spend in 20263
Statistic 3
76%
say AI is delivering meaningful business value1
Visibility hasn't kept pace with investment
Despite rising spend, many organizations still lack clear insight into AI costs, token consumption and usage patterns, making optimization difficult. Without effective AI usage tracking, understanding the true cost of AI becomes increasingly challenging.
Understanding AI costs starts with visibility
AI is everywhere—but control isn’t
Global AI investment has reached unprecedented scale—but the systems built to govern it haven’t kept pace. Most organizations still don’t track AI within the same infrastructure they use to control every other IT asset.
AI has plenty of owners. It doesn’t have accountability.
Executive sponsorship for AI is nearly universal. Clear ownership over AI decisions and spend is not—and that gap is where risk lives.
of organizations say their CEO actively owns AI as a strategic priority1
have executive-level accountability for AI spend and decisions1
say tracking AI adoption is a top challenge2
AI optimization is becoming a business imperative
As costs rise, organizations are shifting focus from experimentation to efficiency, cost control and token usage optimization. The goal is no longer just AI adoption, but maximizing value from every AI investment.
Statistic 1
37%
Rank optimizing software spend as the top SAM priority, a 19-point margin for first place2
Statistic 2
47%
Plan to significantly increase focus on AI software2
Visibility isn’t just control; it’s ROI
Organizations that can see their AI costs clearly aren’t just better governed—they’re better performing. Visibility is the difference between AI spend that's managed and AI investment that pays off.
See it. Control it. Prove it.
This is the difference between AI spend and AI ROI.
Ready to turn AI spend into AI ROI?
See how Flexera helps you see, control and prove the value of every AI dollar—across software, cloud and AI.