{"slug": "this-new-research-challenges-nearly-every-big-ai-narrative-of-2026", "title": "This new research challenges nearly every big AI narrative of 2026", "summary": "RBC Capital Markets' latest CIO survey reveals that enterprise AI adoption is accelerating, with 100% of respondents allocating budget to AI projects and more than half already in production. OpenAI dominates with 57% usage share, while concerns over token costs and a 'SaaSpocalypse' have not materialized. The findings challenge narratives of AI spending slowdowns and software budget cannibalization.", "body_md": "New research from RBC Capital Markets turned up a string of unexpected findings that challenge many of the biggest [AI](https://www.businessinsider.com/ai-supposed-to-kill-tech-jobs-instead-demand-up-2026-6) narratives.\n\nEvery six months or so, Rishi Jaluria and other RBC tech analysts survey more than 100 chief information officers and other tech leaders to gauge spending on corporate IT. These annual budgets represent many billions of dollars.\n\nAnd Jaluria is no AI cheerleader. He's [urged caution](https://www.businessinsider.com/enterprise-ai-demand-chill-analysts-2025-10) when it comes to AI adoption by businesses. So I pay attention when he publishes.\n\nThis time, the message is clear: Companies are [spending a lot on AI](https://www.businessinsider.com/companies-finally-paying-ai-cio-survey-2025-12) and are willing to spend even more.\n\n\"We came away encouraged by broad-based enterprise spending momentum into 2H 2026, with AI adoption beginning to transition from pilot to production,\" Jaluria wrote.\n\n## Surprise No. 1\n\nFor months, investors have worried that [ballooning token bills](https://www.businessinsider.com/tokenmaxxing-debate-uber-exec-viral-ai-costs-2026-5) would become AI's biggest headache. RBC's survey found the opposite.\n\nNearly nine in 10 respondents said token budgets are manageable, even though almost half have already exceeded their original spending plans.\n\nInstead of scrambling to cut AI costs, most companies plan to spend even more on AI tokens in the future. (Token prices are likely to [plunge](https://www.businessinsider.com/ai-token-price-crash-nvidia-blackwell-gpus-2026-6), making returns on AI spending more attractive, so this makes sense).\n\n## OpenAI is way ahead\n\nThis result really caught my eye: [OpenAI](https://www.businessinsider.com/anthropic-tops-openai-business-ai-adoption-ramp-index-2026-5) isn't just ahead — it's lapping the field.\n\nFifty-seven percent of respondents said ChatGPT is the AI model-based service they use most, compared with just 12% for Anthropic's Claude.\n\nOpenAI also comfortably leads on performance, with 44% naming it the highest-performing model provider versus 24% for Anthropic.\n\nSustained, and very large, business adoption of AI is required for successful [IPOs by OpenAI and Anthropic](https://www.businessinsider.com/openai-anthropic-ai-ipo-spacex-stocks-stock-market-investing-trade-2026-6).\n\n## SaaSwhat-alypse?\n\nThe long-predicted \"[SaaSpocalypse](https://www.businessinsider.com/software-ate-world-now-ai-eating-software-saas-anthropic-2026-2)\" has failed to show up so far, according to this survey.\n\nThe vast majority of respondents expect to spend more on software, and not a single respondent expects to spend less. Even companies spending more on AI largely aren't paying for it by gutting the rest of their software stack.\n\n## From pilot to production\n\nThe survey also suggests enterprise AI has graduated from experimentation. Late last year, a similar survey from RBC [raised concerns about enterprise AI adoption](https://www.businessinsider.com/enterprise-ai-demand-chill-analysts-2025-10).\n\nThis time, more than half of respondents said AI is already in production, while another 35% expect to reach production within six months.\n\n## New pricing catches on quick\n\nMeanwhile, hybrid pricing models that combine seat licenses with [usage-based pricing](https://www.businessinsider.com/saas-ai-changing-how-software-companies-charge-customers-2025-4) have quickly become the preferred way enterprises want to buy AI.\n\nThat's a remarkably fast shift for a market that typically adopts new technology at glacial speed.\n\n## The 100% chart\n\nPerhaps the most striking chart in the report is also the simplest: a solid blue circle showing 100% of respondents are allocating budget to AI and large language model projects.\n\nOf those, 91% said they're creating entirely new AI budgets rather than simply reshuffling existing spending — another sign that, for corporate America, the AI investment cycle is accelerating.\n\n*Sign up for BI's Tech Memo newsletter *[here](https://www.businessinsider.com/subscription/newsletter/tech-memo)*. Reach out to me via email at *[abarr@businessinsider.com](mailto:abarr@businessinsider.com)*.*", "url": "https://wpnews.pro/news/this-new-research-challenges-nearly-every-big-ai-narrative-of-2026", "canonical_source": "https://www.businessinsider.com/enterprise-ai-spending-grows-openai-leads-rbc-reveals-2026-6", "published_at": "2026-06-26 09:01:02+00:00", "updated_at": "2026-06-26 09:16:47.434442+00:00", "lang": "en", "topics": ["artificial-intelligence", "ai-products", "ai-research", "ai-infrastructure", "ai-startups"], "entities": ["RBC Capital Markets", "OpenAI", "Anthropic", "ChatGPT", "Claude", "Rishi Jaluria"], "alternates": {"html": "https://wpnews.pro/news/this-new-research-challenges-nearly-every-big-ai-narrative-of-2026", "markdown": "https://wpnews.pro/news/this-new-research-challenges-nearly-every-big-ai-narrative-of-2026.md", "text": "https://wpnews.pro/news/this-new-research-challenges-nearly-every-big-ai-narrative-of-2026.txt", "jsonld": "https://wpnews.pro/news/this-new-research-challenges-nearly-every-big-ai-narrative-of-2026.jsonld"}}