Generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) is transforming the business landscape, reshaping how organizations operate. Enterprise CFOs, as key drivers of innovation and efficiency, are increasingly leveraging GenAI across a range of tasks. Data shows they are implementing the technology to improve strategic decision-making, streamline a range of processes, and deliver measurable returns. The technology’s growing impact is being felt, with most surveyed CFOs reporting increasing ROI gains and expanded use cases. Touching high-stakes areas like cybersecurity and operational tasks, GenAI is becoming integral to modern businesses.
The technology’s promise is clear, yet some CFOs of large companies acknowledge challenges when using these tools. While trust in GenAI is generally high, respondents shared hesitations about data security, accuracy and the need for human oversight. Two key narratives emerge: one of growing reliance on GenAI’s transformative potential and another of more cautious optimism as organizations work to address key limitations and win over stakeholders who may not yet be totally convinced. This balance of opportunity and caution epitomizes the evolving relationship between enterprise CFOs and this cutting-edge technology.
These are just some of the findings detailed in this PYMNTS Intelligence exclusive report. This edition of the CAIO Report examines how CFOs from enterprises are reaping the benefits of GenAI and where some continue to perceive challenges. It draws on insights from a survey of 60 CFOs working at U.S. firms that made at least $1 billion in revenues last year conducted from Dec. 5, 2024, to Dec. 13, 2024.
Nine in 10 CFOs See Very Positive ROI for Using GenAI
CFOs of large firms are seeing a sharp rise in return on investment (ROI) when using GenAI. As of December 2024, nearly 9 in 10 report a very positive ROI, more than three times as many that did in March 2024. Conversely, the share reporting negligible ROI plummeted from 20% to 0% in the same period.
With GenAI yielding such strong results, CFOs are utilizing the technology in more areas of their businesses. By December 2024, CFOs reported that GenAI served their organizations in four more areas than in March. These include high-, medium- and low-impact tasks.
Overall, GenAI use has caught on sharply since March for select tasks. In December, 75% of CFOs reported using GenAI to strengthen their cybersecurity management systems — a high-impact task — more than twice the 28% who used GenAI for that reason in March. In that span, usage of the technology to identify fraudulent behavior, errors or inconsistencies also rose from 27% to 72%.
CFOs use GenAI to automate medium-impact tasks as well. Similarly, the use of the technology for customer service chatbots increased from 42% in March to 83% in December. Using the technology to generate brand-new content also rose from 48% to 70% in the same time span.
Use for some low-impact tasks also skyrocketed. The share of CFOs reporting using GenAI to generate summaries and literature reviews surged from 17% to 73%. The share using the technology to generate feedback on employees rose from 38% to 72%.
CFOs See GenAI as Highly Trustworthy
CFOs invest in GenAI for crucial business functions, particularly in risk management, strategic decision-making and financial reporting. Our data shows that 68% of CFOs consider GenAI very or extremely important for risk management. Additionally, 97% express high or complete trust in its output in this area. Meanwhile, 76% find GenAI to be highly important for strategic planning and decision support, and 98% thoroughly trust its output. For financial reporting, 74% reported the technology is highly important, and 98% expressed strong trust.
Overall, at least 91% of surveyed CFOs have high or complete trust in GenAI’s output in 10 key areas. This trust may come partly from CFOs’ knowledge that the GenAI they use for many tasks feeds from their own data. Since they trust their internal data and primarily use GenAI as a tool to enhance productivity, trust in the output is likely to follow.
However, this trust is not absolute, and some CFOs are not fully on board with the technology. Concerns persist regarding GenAI’s output in select areas. Specifically, 29% of CFOs are concerned that GenAI output might not be very insightful; 22% say this is their biggest concern relating to the integrity of the output. Furthermore, 28% worry about the potential for unauthorized parties to access the results; 16% say this is their top worry. Although these shares are notable, the reality is that the believers far outweigh the skeptics. More than two-thirds of enterprise CFOs do not share these GenAI output concerns.
Some CFOs expressed a range of other hesitations as well, but none dominated the field. Twenty-one percent of CFOs are concerned about biased outputs. Seventeen percent are wary of outputs containing errors, and another 17% are concerned that outputs may still require a lot of human supervision or input.
While CFOs increasingly recognize the value of GenAI, they also acknowledge its limitations and the need for ongoing oversight. GenAI is becoming a vital tool, but for now, CFOs are using the technology more to enhance productivity than to replace human labor entirely.
Most GenAI Tasks Continue to Require Human Intervention
GenAI performs independent work, but the technology rarely operates on its own in practice. Most tasks require a human operator to prompt the technology and edit its outputs. The level of human involvement required can scale up further for certain tasks.
For instance, tasks such as innovation and creative content generation require heavy involvement of human operators. Sixty-nine percent of CFOs report a need for human input in product and service innovation with GenAI. Nearly three-quarters say they need human operators when generating new content with the technology. Prompting GenAI systems to generate quality outputs for these purposes is becoming its own type of skill set.
On the other hand, simpler tasks like code generation and data visualization may require less human intervention. Just 28% of CFOs report needing human involvement for the former, 39% for the latter.
Even low-impact tasks continue to require a human touch. For example, 63% of CFOs report the need for human intervention in generating feedback on employees. Fifty-seven percent say humans still need to be involved in generating summaries and literature reviews. Fifty-eight percent say human help is needed when using GenAI to assist employees and customers with accessing information.
As such, GenAI’s widespread adoption is not replacing human labor. So far, it is mostly enhancing human capabilities in conjunction with operators, rather than replacing them outright.
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Methodology
This PYMNTS Intelligence exclusive report, an edition of the CAIO Project, is based on a survey of 60 CFOs working at U.S. firms that made at least $1 billion in revenues last year conducted from Dec. 5, 2024, to Dec. 13, 2024. It explores how CFOs are reaping the benefits of GenAI and where they continue to face challenges.
