The latest quarterly survey from Deloitte reveals a striking shift among Britain's senior finance leaders: 73% of CFOs at the UK's largest companies are now optimistic that artificial intelligence will improve business performance. That figure has risen sharply from 59% at the end of 2025 and from just 39% two years earlier, indicating a steady accumulation of confidence in a technology that has long been met with skepticism in the finance community.
This growing warmth toward AI comes at a time when CFOs are being asked to audit the corporate case for the technology rather than simply assume its benefits. McKinsey's recent conclusion that the productivity payoff from AI is real but conditional captures the mood among finance leaders, who tend to be the people eventually asked to show where the money went. For now, the enthusiasm is cautious: CFOs are more willing to believe in AI's potential than to spend aggressively on it.
The survey, which polled 58 CFOs between 1 and 13 July, most of them from FTSE-listed or large private companies, also recorded a broader thaw in the anxieties that have weighed on the business climate for the past two years, though the thaw is uneven. Concern about geopolitical risk fell to 68 on the survey's 0-to-100 scale, down from 79 at the start of 2026. Worry about energy prices and supply disruption eased to 60 from 70 in the first quarter, a retreat that tracked the calming of tensions in the Middle East over the summer.
These shifts stand out because business confidence itself had sunk to a six-year low earlier in 2026, weighed down by geopolitics and doubts about the UK's growth prospects. Against that backdrop, the steady climb in AI sentiment is one of the few lines on the survey moving decisively upward, and it has now doubled in two years while most other measures have gone sideways or fallen.
Yet the optimism still carries caveats, and CFOs were careful to draw them. Concern about UK competitiveness and domestic productivity barely shifted, holding around 63. Research showing that the time AI frees up is often quietly wasted helps explain why belief and measurable return remain separate columns on the ledger. Debapratim De, who became Deloitte UK's chief economist in June, framed the numbers as continuity rather than a pivot. 'CFOs continue to prioritise cost reduction and cash control in this environment,' he said, a line that has held across several quarters of the survey.
That instinct shapes how the enthusiasm turns into spending, or does not. An earlier edition of the survey found that 96% of CFOs expect UK companies to raise technology investment over the next five years, and 77% expect that spending to lift productivity and growth, yet few anticipate much of a gain within the next 12 months. Where the money does go, finance leaders have consistently favoured AI applications that cut costs and streamline operations over the customer-facing bets that dominate the marketing around the technology.
The mismatch between conviction and near-term payoff is not confined to finance departments. A BCG survey this year found that most chief executives think their own boards are rushing AI transformation, a sign that the gap between boardroom appetite and operational result runs the length of the C-suite. Risk appetite, the survey's gauge of whether now is a good time to take more onto the balance sheet, has stayed subdued and well below its longer-run average.
Finance chiefs describe a defensive stance, favouring cost control and cash over expansion, even as they grow more curious about what AI might eventually deliver. The direction, at least, matches what Britain has been trying to cultivate. The country's AI startups are now valued at roughly $256 billion, and CFOs warming to the technology gives that supply-side ambition a demand side to lean on.
To understand the significance of this shift, it helps to look at the longer trajectory of AI adoption in corporate finance. For years, AI was seen as either a distant promise or a threat to jobs, but CFOs are now engaging with it practically. According to surveys by PwC and Accenture, many finance departments have started implementing AI for routine tasks like invoice processing, fraud detection, and financial forecasting. However, significant barriers remain, including data quality issues, regulatory uncertainty, and the difficulty of integrating AI into legacy systems.
Deloitte's survey also touches on broader UK economic concerns. CFOs' focus on cost control reflects the lingering impact of high inflation, rising interest rates, and subdued growth. The Bank of England has kept rates elevated to combat inflation, which has squeezed corporate margins and made investment decisions more cautious. Meanwhile, Britain's productivity puzzle persists: output per hour remains below pre-pandemic trends, and neither the government's 'levelling up' agenda nor the digital push has yet to produce a breakthrough.
In this context, AI is seen by many CFOs as a potential productivity driver, but one that requires careful calibration. The Deloitte survey shows that optimism about AI is not uniform across all sectors. CFOs in financial services and tech are more bullish, while those in manufacturing and retail remain more guarded, reflecting different levels of exposure to automation and competition.
Another layer to this story is the geopolitical backdrop. The easing of tensions in the Middle East over the summer contributed to a drop in oil prices, which in turn reduced energy cost worries for UK businesses. However, risks from the Russia-Ukraine war and US-China trade friction remain elevated, and CFOs are not yet ready to increase risk appetite. The survey's risk appetite index stayed subdued, well below its long-term average, confirming that most finance leaders remain in a 'wait-and-see' mode.
Deloitte fields the survey every quarter, and the next reading will show whether 73% is a ceiling or a staging post. For now, the people who sign the cheques are more willing to believe in AI than to spend as though they already do. This cautious optimism is a theme that resonates beyond the UK: similar surveys in the US and Europe show finance chiefs are intrigued by AI but want to see proof of ROI before committing large budgets.
The UK government has made AI a strategic priority, investing in research hubs and trying to attract global talent. The success of these efforts may hinge partly on whether domestic CFOs eventually translate their warming sentiment into concrete investment. So far, the signs are promising but not transformative. As one CFO anonymously commented in the Deloitte survey: 'We see the potential, but we also see the risks. We need to move at a pace that ensures we don't make expensive mistakes.' That sums up the current mood across much of British business.
In summary, the Deloitte survey offers a snapshot of an improving but still fragile confidence landscape among UK CFOs. The rapid rise in AI optimism is the bright spot, but it is surrounded by caution on spending and risk. The next few quarters will reveal whether this warmth translates into action or remains a sentiment of interest. For a group not given to exuberance, the 73% figure is a notable development.