Lenovo's third annual global CIO (chief information officer) report has highlighted artificial intelligence (AI) as the most urgent priority for IT leaders, matched only by cybersecurity.

The report reveals that the speed of adoption and security are the largest barriers to scaling AI, with 51% of CIOs feeling that AI and machine learning (ML) are urgent priorities to address.

According to the report, 84% of CIOs are being evaluated on business outcome metrics more than ever before. A significant 80% of CIOs believe that breakthroughs and developments in AI will have a substantial impact on their business. However, they also see the speed of adoption and security as the most significant barriers to scaling AI.

New product lines (78%), corporate policy/ethical use (76%), supply chain (74%), and IT’s technical skills (51%) are not AI-ready, according to the respondents. A substantial 61% of CIOs find it very or extremely challenging to demonstrate return on investment (ROI) with tech investments.

Despite anticipating increased AI investments over the next 12 months, 96% of CIOs do not expect to see positive ROI from AI investments for at least two to three years. Furthermore, 38% of respondents admit that sustainability is being deprioritised as a result of resources being pulled towards AI adoption.

"Today’s CIOs are working in a tornado of innovation. After years of IT expanding into non-traditional responsibilities, we’re now seeing how AI is forcing CIOs back to their core mandate," said President of Lenovo’s Solutions and Services Group, Ken Wong,

Interestingly, 78% of CIOs say that leveraging AI will make it easier to meet their organisation’s IT sustainability goals. However, 89% of CIOs warn that with the continued scaling of AI technologies, the role of human capital will become even more important.

"There’s a clear opportunity for us to help businesses make sense of AI, accelerate its scale, and advise on how the impact of these investments can be effectively measured," Wong said.

AI exploration and adoption are pulling resources and attention away from other key IT areas including cloud adoption/digital transformation (48%), sustainability (38%), and employee compensation (38%).