CloudZero Research · The AI Allocation Benchmark · FY2027 edition

What do other CFOs know about AI spend that you don’t?

In less than a minute, see how your business stacks up against your peers. Get a personalized AI spending benchmark based on our survey of 252 senior finance leaders, revealing where you lead, where you lag, and what your peers can see that you can’t.

See where you stand

Today

How finely can you attribute AI spend to a slice of the business today?

By FY2027

And how finely will you need to, by FY2027?

Today

How deeply can you tie AI spend to business return?

By FY2027

What’s the primary change to how you budget AI for FY2027?

By FY2027

Going into FY2027, is AI spend one of your biggest risks or one of your biggest opportunities?

Take it a step further

Optional: add your spend and who drives AI for a sharper comparison.

Combined annual spend on cloud infrastructure and AI/MLSkip

Skip<$5M$5–10M$10–25M$25–50M$50M+

Share of that which is AI/ML workloadsSkip

Skip≤10%11–20%21–35%36–50%>50%

Who primarily drives AI initiatives at your organization?

Answer the five core questions. The optional inputs add your dollar exposure and peer context.

Methodology: “State of AI ROI,” fielded August–September 2026 to a third-party panel of senior finance leaders (79% CFOs, 21% VPs of Finance). n = 252 completed responses. Comparisons are two-proportion z-tests, reported as real only where p < 0.05. Cohorts under n = 30 are never shown. © 2026 CloudZero · Cost intelligence for cloud and AI