AI is a Pandora's box that some CEOs seem wary of opening - at least with investors

By Emily Bary

Corporate America may be broadly using AI, but an analyst notes that some management teams are hesitant to bring it up with investors because it won't translate to financial results just yet

Talking up AI initiatives is a Pandora's box for corporate executives, an analyst said, because then there's more pressure to deliver.

Artificial intelligence is making its way through corporate America, but not all executives want to talk about it.

DataTrek co-founder Nicholas Colas took a look at FactSet's recent analysis of mentions of AI during corporate earnings calls. The data provider found that executives at about two-thirds of S&P 500 SPX companies mentioned the technology on their second-quarter earnings calls. Colas noted that the number of companies mentioning AI on these calls has essentially stagnated since the end of last year.

On a pure-numbers basis, this translates to about 330 S&P 500 components. AI might be pertinent to the rest of the companies, too, Colas added, but not to their immediate financial results.

The number of S&P companies mentioning AI on earnings calls hasn't increased since the end of last year.

"The rest of the index may well be keenly focused on the topic internally, but it does not yet meet the threshold of being an issue they must discuss or risk being accused of omitting important facts from their communications with markets and investors," he wrote.

Unsurprisingly, technology companies are the most likely to talk about AI, with the DataTrek team calculating that 97% did so on their latest earnings call. Coming next on a sector basis were financials (91%), communications (90%), energy (71%) and industrials (67%).

Utilities and materials companies were the most prone to avoiding the topic. Just 28% of management teams for each of those two sectors talked about AI on second-quarter calls. That's even as AI offers "theoretically large upside" for companies in these sectors, according to Colas.

Why not simply mention AI to hop on the bandwagon? It's not so simple, Colas wrote. "The C-suite must deliver on what it promises about AI or any other topic mentioned on a call," he continued. "That bar is high, and rightfully so."

He likened the matter to a Pandora's box, which "rarely closes" once it's been opened.

His takeaway is nuanced, and he cautioned that investors shouldn't use conference-call mentions " as a proxy for either the technology's adoption or near-term utility."

"Rather, it simply reflects whether there is a clear line of sight between its use and a quantifiable financial outcome for the company in question," Colas wrote. "Most, but not all, S&P companies have that visibility. We are sure more will, given enough time."

-Emily Bary

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09-21-26 1057ET