Good morning. AI projects must earn their share of corporate budgets.
“It doesn’t get a free pass just because it’s got AI on the front of the opportunity,” Eimear Bonner, CFO of Chevron, said during a panel session I moderated at the Fortune Most Powerful Women Summit in Santa Barbara on Tuesday.
“It’s got to compete for capital.” Bonner’s test: “We’ve got to see a path to where it creates value, first and foremost.” Chevron looks for AI initiatives that deliver measurable improvements in business performance, whether by unlocking previously inaccessible oil reserves, reducing costs or shortening cycle times. The goal, Bonner said, is to target applications with the potential to drive transformative value.
Gina Mastantuono, president and CFO of ServiceNow noted that the way CFOs calculate ROI is moving beyond just measuring potential gains in revenue and profitability. Finance chiefs must also weigh the cost of inaction: falling behind competitors that adopt AI, with long-term competitiveness at stake, Mastantuono said.
ServiceNow funds projects that strengthen competitive differentiation, solve a customer problem and deliver measurable value on a clear timeline, she explained. “I don’t think the winners in AI are going to be the ones that spend the most,” she said.
Mastantuono urged measuring outcomes, not activity—”not how many AI pilots you have,” but whether AI lifts revenue, efficiency and speed. ServiceNow expects $500 million in savings this year, largely from using its own products.
Sarah Youngwood, EVP and CFO of Nasdaq, said during the panel session that the company categorizes investments into “horizon zero”—foundational needs like cybersecurity—followed by short-term return initiatives, medium-term bets, and longer-term R&D. Nasdaq’s decade-old investments in cloud and algorithmic AI, Youngwood said, position it to serve clients today.
“It’s all about the gold standard data that we have,” she said, citing data from 3,500 institutions representing $12 trillion in assets. Youngwood oversees Nasdaq’s AI KPIs, which track inputs such as training and platform engagement, as well as outcomes including coding speed, client retention and token costs.
For Bonner, who becomes president of Chevron’s oil, products and gas business on Jan. 1, discipline also means regular check-ins with project teams to remove barriers and confirm progress. AI is helping the company find oil and gas faster, recover more from reservoirs and anticipate maintenance needs, Bonner said. Chevron is also on the supply side of the AI boom: It plans to power a Microsoft data center in West Texas through a 2.67-gigawatt natural gas project.
You can watch a video of the complete panel session here.
Sheryl Estrada
Sheryl.Estrada@fortune.com
This story was originally featured on Fortune.com