AI’s place in the enterprise is maturing, and it’s no longer seen as “just an IT thing,” but that doesn’t mean that it has outgrown its problems. Forbes Research talked to 1,075 C-suite executives at large global companies in August and September and uncovered new challenges that are less about figuring out the basics of AI, and more about using it strategically.

Just over half of executives—53%—are using AI “across the enterprise,” while the remainder are using it for “some initiatives,” the survey found. This is actually a decrease from the last two years—63% were using AI enterprise-wide in 2024, and 62% reported that blanket usage in 2023. This may indicate that companies are figuring out what AI can do best for them and concentrating its use in certain areas that have the most impact. Still, 56% are reporting an ROI of under 5% for their AI initiatives, so those more impactful uses are still developing.

Right now, AI is relied upon as a strategic partner for several companies. More than four out of five respondents said AI is delivering significant gains to enhance decision making, operate more efficiently and improve product or service quality. Many of these functions are outside the traditional realm of the CIO’s office, as CEOs are becoming much more involved in AI decision making. The proportion of CEOs making decisions on AI has more than doubled since last year: 55% now from 26% last year. COOs and CFOs have also seen their involvement in AI decisions exponentially increase, with COOs going from 2% last year to 41% this year, and CFOs increasing from 1% last year to 38% this year. CIOs are still the most involved in AI decisions, taking part in 71% of them.

As companies transition from the novelty of implementing AI to making it work effectively, there are many bumps in the road. Matt Calkins, CEO of AI-powered automation and orchestration platform Appian, says that there seems to be an “AI bubble” now—not referring to what’s going on with AI company valuations, but because prices for AI are high and the value to companies is lacking. He told me that’s more of a function of using AI for trivial tasks. An excerpt from our conversation about AI, as well as progress toward regulations, is later in this newsletter.

We are currently accepting nominations for the Forbes CIO Next 2025 list. We’re looking for innovators who have had significant impacts both at their own companies and for other tech leaders on the whole. (And yes, you can nominate yourself.) Nominations are accepted until 5 p.m. ET October 30.

AI is such a powerful and burgeoning area of business, there is no way that a single company will be able to dominate it. This week, OpenAI announced a multibillion-dollar deal with AMD, in which OpenAI plans to acquire and deploy six gigawatts worth of AMD’s AI chips. OpenAI plans to deploy 1 gigawatt of AMD’s Instinct MI450 GPUs next year. An SEC filing from AMD reveals that the company issued OpenAI a warrant for up to 160 million shares—roughly 10% of the company—at one cent per share. Those shares will vest when share price milestones are met.

This deal gives AMD a significant boost in both business in general and in its standing in the AI ecosystem. The company’s stock is up more than 38% in the last week, and the deal is a guarantee that AMD will continue to be a major player. Vasmi Boppana, AMD’s senior vice president of AI, told Forbes’ Richard Nieva that the deal was

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