Seeking ROI on GenAI

Insights into the state of AI adoption as companies consider the ROI and competitive advantage of the game-changing technology.

As some companies exit the pilot phase of investments in generative artificial intelligence (genAI) and focus on scaling their investments to drive productivity gains, boardroom conversations about the technology are focusing on the return on investment (ROI). This was one of the takeaways from the Mar. 20, 2025, KPMG Board Leadership Center webinar, “State of AI: A Boardroom Perspective,” which explored how companies have adopted AI and the board’s evolving oversight role.

In 2024, many board conversations about genAI were focused on the “wow factor” and safety concerns. Now, companies are beginning to reach the “turning point of the J-curve,” as one webinar speaker observed, and are expecting some benefit from their efforts. While safety rightfully remains a key discussion point, boards are also asking how their companies can lean in, accelerate, and gain some of the trillions of dollars in potential benefits.

More than three-quarters (76%) of respondents to the KPMG Board Leadership Center 2025 Boardroom Lens on Generative AI survey noted that the top benefit of their companies’ adoption and leveraging of genAI is the optimization of operations, including efficiency, productivity, and cost savings. To realize the benefits of genAI, in addition to making AI tools, such as large language models, available to employees, the webinar speakers underscored the importance of driving employee adoption of the tools and viewing them as digital assistants that can augment human work and free up time rather than simply replacing people.

Another key takeaway is that AI has not been a “leveler of the playing field.” Webinar speakers said that the leading firms are pulling away in almost every industry because they are using the technology differently. Companies and boards should expand their focus on genAI beyond how the technology can help cut costs to consider how it may be used as a force amplifier (e.g., to expand the company’s market).

Many companies are exploring the adoption of emerging forms of AI to automate and reengineer workflows. In the latest Boardroom Lens on Generative AI survey, 23 percent of respondents said that the adoption of emerging forms of AI, including agentic AI, or AI that exhibits autonomous behavior, was a strategic priority for their companies in 2025. Another 30 percent said that their companies were actively exploring emerging forms of AI for adoption over the next two to three years. While agentic AI is tailored to specific workflows and operates largely autonomously, the webinar speakers underscored the importance of human oversight.

As one speaker said:

Another speaker said that the use of AI for cognitive tasks is progressing by “leaps and bounds” but predicted that physical intelligence will be the next frontier after agentic AI. The same tools that help with cognitive tasks are turbocharging the ability of robots to do many physical tasks, eliminating the need to build special, single-task equipment.

For many companies, access to company data is a major bottleneck to scaling the benefits of genAI. “Being able to pipe the data out of the company’s ‘basement’ and into these models to make them more powerful and save more time for the employees is … the biggest perceived impediment to the next step,” said one of the webinar speakers.

The Board’s Role

To help the companies they serve prepare for the next wave of adoption, board members should ask questions about the privacy, governance, and security of the company’s data. For example, where does the company maintain its proprietary data? How much sits in a cloud-based platform? How can the company accelerate the data platform transition?

Additional questions for boards to consider include the following:

• Is there enough time allocated on the board’s agenda to the company’s overall strategy, and specifically to AI?
• What are the company’s plans for genAI, and how do those plans align with the company’s strategic objectives?
• How and where is genAI being used by employees, and what talent gaps need to be filled to be competitive in the near future?
• What are the company’s planned investments and expected returns from genAI deployment this year, expected budget impacts next year, and scenarios for how the financial plan will change over the next three to five years?
• How does the company measure ROI and key performance indicators for its genAI initiatives?

Boards should expect the C-suite to be able to clearly articulate the expected impact of genAI on the company's operations, products, and revenue. At the same time, they should monitor whether management has in place the governance structure and policies for the responsible use of genAI throughout the organization.

The views expressed in this article are the author's own and do not represent the perspective of NACD.

KPMG LLP is a NACD strategic content partner, providing directors with critical and timely information, and perspectives. KPMG LLP is a financial supporter of the NACD.