AI Unite
Suggest a report
EY-Parthenon · January 2026

EY-Parthenon CEO Outlook Survey (January 2026)

EY-Parthenon's EY-Parthenon CEO Outlook Survey (January 2026) (January 2026; n=1,200, fielded Nov–Dec 2025) found that 24% of CEOs expect AI investment to reduce headcount, down from 46% in January 2025.

Read the original report ↗Cite2 min read · Summary updated
Fewer CEOs expect AI investment to cut headcountPercent of CEOs who believe AI investment will reduce headcount, by survey wave
Source: EY-Parthenon, CEO Outlook Survey, January 2026.

Key findings

  1. 01
    58% expect AI to be a major growth engine in the next two years; 32% expect it to fundamentally reshape operations.
  2. 02
    Only 20% say AI significantly exceeded expectations over the last year.
  3. 03
    69% believe AI investments will lead them to maintain employment or hire new talent over the coming year.

By the numbers

24%of CEOs expect AI investment to reduce headcount, down from 46% in January 2025
20%say AI significantly exceeded expectations over the last year
69%expect AI investment to let them maintain employment or hire
Generative AI tops the technologies CEOs see as transformativePercent of CEOs selecting each type of AI as transformative, Jan 2026 report
Generative AI
54%
Machine learning
45%
Agentic AI
37%
Physical AI
30%
Natural language processing
27%
Source: EY-Parthenon, CEO Outlook Survey, January 2026.

What it means for you Draft

For executives at $10–100M companies

Large-company CEOs have become noticeably less focused on cutting jobs with AI and more on using it for growth. For a $10–100M firm, the useful takeaway is that AI plans framed around capacity and growth, rather than headcount cuts, match where larger peers are heading. Most respondents run $500M+ companies, so treat this as sentiment, not a benchmark.

Limitations

Medium trust.Mid-sized CEO sample, method and size mix disclosed; sentiment, not outcomes. EY sells AI consulting.

About the publisher: Sells AI strategy and implementation consulting.

Cite the original

EY-Parthenon. "EY-Parthenon CEO Outlook Survey (January 2026)." January 20, 2026. https://www.ey.com/en_gl/newsroom/2026/01/ceos-double-down-on-ai-transformation-and-m-and-a-to-drive-growth-amid-uncertainty-in-the-global-economy

Related reports

Bain · Sep 2026Technology Report 2026Leaders expect a 95% developer productivity uplift in 1–2 years; current gains are 20–27%. Bain says AI moves bottlenecks into review and coordination.Gartner · Sep 2026Gartner Survey Finds Only 22% of Organizations Have Successfully Scaled AI Across Multiple Business Units (press release)85% of functional leaders plan to increase AI spending in 2026 after allocating an average 12% of functional budgets to AI in 2025.OpenAI · Aug 2026Enterprise Signals: What Frontier Firms Are Doing DifferentlyOpenAI usage data shows agent use overtaking chat in enterprises, and the heaviest-using firms pulling further ahead of typical ones.