Survey Sees AI Confidence Rising Among IT Leaders
Techstrong.ai, Wednesday, February 4th, 2026
A survey of 200 CIOs, CTOs, and IT directors across the U.S., Canada, and Europe finds a quarter (25%) expect to reach full-scale orchestration of artificial intelligence (AI) this year, with AI providing the connective tissue between tools, teams and processes.
Conducted by Zapier, a provider of an IT automation platform, the survey finds another 43% anticipate reaching an agentic AI stage, where autonomous systems work across functions with minimal human input.
Collectively, the survey results indicate more than two thirds of IT leaders (68%) expect their organization to achieve some level of advanced adoption of AI in 2026. A full 84% said they are confident they will have solid proof of a return on investment in AI by 2026, with 54% prioritizing measurable productivity improvements, while 22% are planning to verify financial savings.
Additionally, 83% of respondents said their organization will demand that AI error rates stay at 5% or below for high-stakes operations. A total of 71% also identified 'human-in-the-loop' approvals as their top governance priority for 2026.