AI Poised to Reshape Corporate Earnings Across 71% of Industries by 2035

Artificial intelligence stands to fundamentally reshape nearly three-quarters of business sectors by 2035, according to research released Tuesday by Bain & Co., with $4.7 trillion in corporate profits at risk. The consulting firm examined how profit patterns and industry structures shifted during the early internet era to draw comparisons with AI's potential business impact.

Unlike the internet, which primarily reduced distribution costs and improved customer reach for enterprises, AI addresses a different economic challenge. The technology collapses the cost of production itself, Bain & Co.'s analysis determined.

Chief information officers seeking clarity on their industry's trajectory should accelerate technology initiatives, according to Dunigan O'Keeffe, a strategy partner at Bain & Co. "They need to place a stake in the ground on the future industry profit pool for their sector, how they will win, and then what that requires from technology," O'Keeffe told CIO Dive via email.

Measuring AI's Real Business Value

Technology vendors frequently highlight AI's capacity to streamline operations by automating human tasks and refining production workflows. Yet quantifying return on investment remains elusive for many organizations. Research from Glean's Work AI Institute, published in June, showed that automation freed workers by approximately 11 hours weekly on average, though employees frequently devoted much of this reclaimed time to reviewing and managing AI-generated outputs.

The true significance of AI for enterprises centers not on technological advancement alone, but on organizational transformation, O'Keeffe explained. The technology enables substantial improvements in how companies operate and compete within their respective industries.

Bain & Co.'s findings suggest AI will generate roughly triple the economic benefit that the internet delivered, accomplishing this in approximately one decade. The internet transformed about 41% of sectors between 1995 and 2015, whereas AI is projected to reshape 71% of sectors.

"The CIO is uniquely positioned to play a leading role as this conversation requires a granular understanding of what the technology makes possible," O'Keeffe stated.

Strategic Priorities for Technology Leaders

Bain & Co.'s research identifies productivity, innovation, market share gains, and competitive positioning as the primary drivers of AI's business impact.

During this transformation period, CIOs should prioritize developing proprietary intelligence—the distinctive data, systems, and machine learning capabilities that deliver competitive advantage to their organizations, O'Keeffe advised.

While pursuing broad productivity improvements has merit, targeting specific business objectives tailored to each company's needs may yield greater returns, O'Keeffe suggested. The research quantifies this distinction: productivity gains account for $1.1 trillion in new profits, whereas innovation and competitive shifts represent $3.5 trillion in profit changes.

Technology executives should evaluate their organization's progress relative to the fastest-moving rivals in their industry, and establish mechanisms to disseminate insights from frontline operations that illuminate the company's technology investment direction.

"The CIO is a catalyst for making the transformation dynamic, keeping the pulse on where the organization is seeing results, the new barriers to attack, and how the frontier of technology is evolving," O'Keeffe said.