The numbers sound impressive until you read the fine print. Microsoft's February report found that 80 percent of Fortune 500 companies use active AI agents [1]. Heidrick & Struggles' 2026 Board Monitor confirms that AI is on the agenda at most major corporate boards. But a global survey published in March found that only 26 percent of directors discuss AI at every board meeting — the rest treat it as an occasional topic or a one-time strategy review [2].

The gap between "on the agenda" and "understood" is where the money disappears. Fortune reported that companies are spending 93 percent of their AI budgets on technology and only 7 percent on the people expected to use it [3]. A National Bureau of Economic Research study published in February found that 90 percent of firms reported zero measurable impact of AI on workplace productivity. The tools are deployed. The returns are not.

The adoption-understanding gap manifests in predictable ways. Boards approve AI budgets because the competitive pressure to do so is enormous. They do not approve the organizational changes — retraining, workflow redesign, new management structures — that would make those budgets productive. A Duke University survey conducted with the Federal Reserve Banks of Atlanta and Richmond found that CFOs privately expect AI-related layoffs to be nine times higher than publicly stated [4].

The honest assessment: most boards know AI matters. Fewer know what it does. Fewer still know what to do about it.

-- Theo Kaplan, San Francisco