Only 2% of FTSE 100 Companies Disclose Specific AI Spending Figures Despite Rising Costs

FTSE 100 companies are rapidly deploying artificial intelligence while failing to disclose the associated costs or financial returns to shareholders. New analysis suggests a significant transparency gap in the UK’s largest public firms, creating a "black box" of AI spending that could obscure material risks as global AI-related debt issuance continues to climb.

What was announced

A new analysis of 2025 annual reports from the FTSE 100 reveals a stark disconnect between the adoption of artificial intelligence and the financial reporting of its impact. According to data from Flexera, only 2% of these companies disclosed a specific figure for their AI spending, and just 3% reported a specific financial result or outcome derived from the technology. This lack of disclosure persists despite the fact that 36% of the FTSE 100 reported substantive AI deployment or use, and 32% linked the technology to specific business outcomes in their narrative reporting.

The findings highlight a growing governance challenge as AI investment scales. More than half of the FTSE 100 (54%) now identify AI as a material or company-specific risk. This heightened risk perception coincides with a surge in global AI-related debt issuance, which reached approximately $450 billion by early September—a figure more than double the total for 2025, according to Bank of England Financial Policy Committee citations of Morgan Stanley estimates. The report also points to the arrival of OpenAI’s "Dots," which are always-on AI agents, as a factor that could further increase operational costs and put additional pressure on corporate budgets that are, in some cases, being exhausted in months rather than years.

"Accountability matters as well. Organisations should know whether the AI licences and agents they are paying for are actually being used, but utilisation alone is not success. A stronger test is whether the business owner receiving the benefit would be prepared to absorb that AI run-rate into their own budget."

Marlon Oliver, Senior Vice President, EMEA, at Flexera

The companies involved

Flexera is a global leader in technology spend and risk intelligence, specializing in providing enterprises with visibility into their complex IT estates. The company’s platform is designed to help organizations manage and optimize their investments across software, hardware, and cloud services, a task that has become increasingly difficult as consumption-based models become the industry standard. By analyzing how technology is utilized across an organization, the firm enables leadership to justify expenditures and mitigate the risks associated with decentralized procurement.

The company’s strategic direction in the artificial intelligence space is led by Steve Daheb, Head of AI GTM Strategy, while Marlon Oliver oversees operations as the Senior Vice President for the EMEA region. Flexera’s market position rests on its ability to transform raw consumption data—such as token usage, compute power, and license numbers—into actionable business intelligence. As AI shifts from an experimental tool to a core component of enterprise infrastructure, the firm provides the analytical framework necessary for boards to move beyond "utilization" metrics toward genuine value-based reporting.

What FF News has reported before

FF News has previously monitored the escalating difficulty corporate boards face when attempting to quantify the impact of emerging technologies. In October 2026, the publication reported that Flexera Expands AI Cost Management Platform to Tackle Rising Enterprise Spend. That report noted that half of UK boards were unable to accurately size their AI-related risks, prompting the expansion of specialized cost controls. The earlier coverage emphasized that without granular visibility into AI consumption, enterprises risk "cost black boxes" where a small number of users or automated processes can drive a disproportionate share of total expenditure.

What this means

The "honeymoon phase" of AI experimentation is ending, and the market is entering a period of fiscal reckoning. The fact that 54% of the FTSE 100 recognize AI as a material risk while only 2% disclose what they spend on it suggests a significant failure in financial transparency. For the fintech and broader financial services sectors, this lack of rigor is particularly dangerous. As "always-on" agents like OpenAI’s Dots begin to initiate their own workflows and consumption, costs will become increasingly volatile. Boards that cannot connect AI consumption to specific KPIs will find it difficult to maintain shareholder confidence as the debt associated with these initiatives continues to mount.