Source: GlobeNewswire / KUNGFU.AI — 2026-07-15
Summary
A new survey from KUNGFU.AI, conducted by Wakefield Research among 300 U.S. C-level executives at companies with at least $500 million in annual revenue, found that 74% admit to overstating confidence in their own company's AI strategy to boards, investors, or the public. The survey also found 99% of respondents say their organization has rebuilt or significantly changed its AI strategy within the last 24 months — a churn rate that points to widespread trial-and-error rather than confident, settled execution.
Key Takeaways
- 74% self-reported overstating AI-strategy confidence — this is executives admitting the gap themselves, not an outside analyst inferring it, which makes the number harder to dismiss as pundit skepticism.
- 99% of surveyed companies rebuilt or significantly changed their AI strategy in the past 24 months, suggesting almost no large company has landed on a stable approach yet — "AI strategy" in most boardrooms is still a moving target, not a fixed plan.
- The pressure driving the overstatement is described as coming from both directions: boards pushing for visible AI progress, and operational teams underneath the C-suite reporting the reality is messier than what gets presented upward.
- This tracks with earlier 2026 findings this year (Pearl Meyer/Fortune reporting) that boards and the C-suite frequently disagree on who actually owns AI strategy — overstated confidence and unclear ownership are plausibly the same underlying problem viewed from two angles.
- Practical read for teams inside these companies: if your leadership's public AI messaging feels more confident than what's actually happening on the ground, this survey suggests you're not an outlier — you're the norm, at 3 out of 4 large companies.