PwC Global Chairman Mohamed Kande revealed a critical finding from the firm's 29th Annual Global CEO Survey, indicating that a significant majority of companies, specifically 56%, are currently not extracting any substantial financial benefits from their artificial intelligence (AI) investments. Speaking at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Kande underscored a growing disparity between the rapid adoption of AI technologies and the actual measurable returns for businesses. The survey, which gathered insights from 4,454 CEOs across 95 countries, highlighted that only a small fraction, 10% to 12%, of companies have reported tangible gains in revenue or cost savings from their AI initiatives. Kande emphasized that the issue doesn't lie with the AI technology itself, but rather with fundamental execution challenges. Many organizations are overlooking crucial groundwork such as ensuring clean data, establishing clear business processes, and implementing proper oversight. This oversight in foundational preparation leads to pilot projects failing to scale into widespread, value-generating deployments. The PwC analysis further indicates that companies successfully applying AI extensively across products, services, and customer experiences achieve nearly four percentage points higher profit margins. This creates a defining fault line, as a small group of companies are effectively leveraging AI for financial returns, while many others remain stuck in experimental stages. The gap in competitiveness and confidence is expected to widen rapidly for those who fail to act decisively and invest in building strong AI foundations. Kande's remarks serve as a critical alert for CEOs to re-evaluate their AI strategies, focusing on strategic integration and foundational readiness to truly harness AI's transformative potential.