What Marketing Leaders Get Wrong About AI Budgets

Alicia Williams · September 18, 2026

Dark boardroom at dusk with a single gold desk lamp lighting an empty conference table

Every planning cycle produces a new category of spend that nobody can defend six months later. This year it is AI.

The pattern repeats

A tool gets bought. A pilot gets run. Nobody agrees on what success looked like.

Start with the decision, not the tool.
Name the metric before the purchase order.
Give the pilot an end date and an owner.

A better question

Ask what decision gets faster or better. If the answer is vague, the budget line is a guess. For a fuller treatment of pressure-testing spend, see our framework.

The room does not reward certainty. It rewards a clear question.