Top story
98% of senior leaders say rising AI token costs are forcing a strategic rethink.
EY's 5th AI Pulse Survey (534 SVP+ US leaders) finds 82% are concerned about token costs and related operational expenses. 76% say off-the-shelf software no longer meets their needs. In response, 91% now view building in-house, AI-powered software as critical - and 82% expect traditional per-seat SaaS pricing to become less relevant within five years. Despite this, 98% of leaders report they have seen positive ROI from AI, suggesting the issue is not return but runaway cost and misaligned investment allocation.
EY US AI Pulse Survey, 5th Wave, July 28, 2026
Quick hits
Organizations where CHROs and CIOs co-own AI decisions are 67% more likely to keep pace with AI-driven change. A Cornerstone/Vanson Bourne study (2,000 leaders and employees across the US, Europe, and Australia) finds joint ownership enables organizations to act 13% faster on workforce changes. Yet only 35% of HR and IT leaders make AI decisions jointly, and fewer than half share common goals. (Cornerstone / Vanson Bourne, July 29, 2026)
Only 17% of employees feel prepared for how their role will evolve in the next 12-24 months. Despite 65% of employees saying their responsibilities changed meaningfully in the past year, 89% say more organizational support would help them keep up. 60% describe their employer's approach to skills development as reactive, with support arriving during or after change, not before it. (Cornerstone / Vanson Bourne, July 29, 2026)
60% of global business leaders expect AI to grow their workforces, not cut them. JLL's 2026 Future of Work Survey (2,200+ C-suite leaders across 21 countries) finds most leaders expect AI to reinvent human roles (60%), not replace them (40%). The most AI-advanced organizations are actively redesigning roles and investing in entry-level talent, not reducing headcount. (JLL 2026 Future of Work Survey, July 14, 2026)
Only 15% of organizations have reached the stage where AI is actively redesigning roles and workplaces. Most are still monitoring AI trends (46%) or analyzing potential impacts (40%), rather than acting on them. The execution gap between what leaders believe and what they are doing remains the defining challenge of this moment. (JLL 2026 Future of Work Survey, July 14, 2026)
Insight for practice
The most consistent signal across this edition is a maturity inflection point. AI has moved from aspiration to operational reality, and with that shift comes a new kind of pressure: token costs are mounting, off-the-shelf tools are no longer cutting it, and HR and IT are still largely siloed. Most employees feel underprepared. Yet there is a counter-signal worth noting - most leaders expect AI to expand workforces, not shrink them, and nearly all report positive ROI. For C-suite advisory work, this is the moment to help leaders distinguish between the short-term fiscal discipline question and the long-term organizational redesign question. The organizations that will lead are those that can hold both at once - governing costs tightly while deliberately redesigning how work gets done.