After a long-standing question arose, "When will organizations actually make real money after investing heavily in AI?" Today, following recent quarterly earnings reports from many companies worldwide, several have demonstrated measurable revenue generated from AI.
Over time, according to the Stanford HAI 2026 AI Index report, companies worldwide have accelerated AI investments to boost operational efficiency and enhance profitability, pushing business AI investment value to 581.7 billion USD in 2025, a 130% increase from the previous year.
Leading cloud infrastructure providers (Hyperscalers) like Microsoft, Amazon, Google, and Meta forecast combined AI infrastructure investments possibly reaching 700 billion USD in 2026, though returns figures have not yet been disclosed.
As the Q3 earnings season unfolds, some companies have begun revealing figures that show AI is truly delivering financial benefits, but most of these are not technology firms.
Santander, the Spanish banking giant, announced last Wednesday alongside its earnings that AI adoption internally generated business value of 194 million euros (approximately 216 million USD) in the first nine months of 2026.
José García Cantera, Santander’s Chief Financial Officer, told CNBC that AI is helping the bank reduce low-value work, allowing employees to focus more on tasks that create greater business value.
"AI impacts both bank revenue and costs, and this quarter marks a clear instance where AI directly produced positive business outcomes," García Cantera said.
However, since AI has been integrated throughout the bank’s processes, it is difficult to precisely identify which business results are directly attributable to AI.
"AI is embedded in all our workflows, making it hard to pinpoint exactly which outcomes come directly from AI, but it is clear AI is enhancing our customer service quality," he added.
Additionally, Novartis, the Swiss pharmaceutical giant, disclosed to CNBC that AI has begun contributing to improved company profits.
Novartis reported a core operating income of 6.04 billion USD in Q3, up 10% compared to the same period last year.
Although the company hasn’t specified how much AI contributed to this profit, CEO Vas Narasimhan stated, "This is the first quarter where we clearly see AI concretely improving our profit and loss (P&L) results."
He also noted the company is exploring AI in research and development to assess if it can boost R&D efficiency, while benefits from AI in marketing and sales have already begun reflecting in profits.
Meanwhile, Standard Chartered, another global banking giant, is also beginning to see AI’s impact. CFO Manus Costello said AI is now influential across nearly all parts of the business.
The bank reported a 14% growth in operating income in Q3 on a constant currency basis, excluding significant special items, with AI contributing to both revenue growth and improved operational efficiency (Operating Leverage).
He explained that AI helps managers build better customer relationships, leading to more revenue opportunities, and enables revenue growth to outpace cost increases, which is key to operational efficiency gains.
However, not every company has observed clear AI returns at the same level. Carlsberg, the beverage giant, told CNBC it has not yet seen scalable AI benefits across the organization, despite Q3 revenue rising 4.9%.
Though broad results remain elusive, AI has started playing a role in improving internal processes such as cost efficiency, commercial and pricing processes, marketing, and supply chain management.
Beyond banking, pharmaceuticals, and consumer goods, major tech companies have also started reporting positive outcomes from AI investments.
Meta revealed in its October 21 earnings report that AI investments significantly boosted advertising revenue, with total revenue for the quarter ending September 30 rising 26%.
Alphabet, Google’s parent company, while facing slowing revenue growth in Google Search amid AI competition concerns, saw Google Cloud business achieve remarkable growth.
Alphabet reported last Wednesday that Google Cloud revenue more than doubled in Q3, reaching nearly 31 billion USD.
Microsoft restructured by dividing its business into two segments: Agents and Infra (AI agents and infrastructure) and Devices and Consumer (consumer products), reporting that the Agents segment accounted for 83% of total revenue.
Ultimately, AI investments are entering a phase where companies must prove returns with real financial figures, whether through revenue growth, cost reduction, employee productivity improvements, or operational efficiency gains.
However, results vary; some companies can directly measure AI’s business value, others are beginning to see P&L impacts, and some remain in early stages using AI to improve workflows without yet realizing scalable returns.
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Source:CNBC
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