Edition in partnership with

Welcome executives and professionals. AI has become a defining theme in corporate dealmaking, with the race to secure relevant capabilities extending well beyond companies in the core AI ecosystem.

Since the previous edition, we have reviewed hundreds of the latest insights in agentic and generative AI, spanning best practices, case studies, market dynamics, and innovations.

This briefing outlines what is driving material value — and why it’s important.

In today’s briefing:

• Adopt, partner, build or buy AI.

• CHRO priorities as AI reshapes work.

• Anthropic and OpenAI cut model prices.

• Cyber resilience in the boardroom.

• Transformation and technology.

• Insights for Executive+ members.

• Career opportunities & events.

Read time: 4 minutes.

MARKET & BEST PRACTICE INSIGHT

Adopt, partner, build or buy AI

Brief: BCG's 72-page 2026 M&A Report, including a chapter on how non-AI businesses can win at AI dealmaking, draws on data from 1,052,000 M&A deals from January 1980 through December 2025.

Breakdown:

• Non-AI companies should decide whether to adopt, partner, build or buy AI based on differentiation and availability (image above).

• AI dealmaking is broadening beyond acquisitions. Alliances more than doubled from 2024 to 2025 and now rival M&A as a route to AI.

• Investors reward nontech buyers of AI software and apps, with average announcement returns of 0.84%, versus –0.03% for tech buyers.

• As models commoditize, advantage comes from proprietary data, workflows and expertise. Buy when control protects that edge.

Why it’s important: The race for AI capabilities now extends beyond tech, but fast-moving AI makes buying risky: firms may pay a control premium for tools that soon become obsolete. The best approach secures access, stays flexible and reserves ownership for scarce capabilities.

IN PARTNERSHIP WITH THE HACKETT GROUP®

The emerging 75% AI performance gap

The first phase of enterprise AI focused largely on experimentation and deployment. Increasingly, attention is shifting to whether AI is changing operating performance.

New benchmark research from The Hackett Group® suggests a measurable gap is emerging between organizations that redesign end-to-end processes around AI and those that primarily automate existing workflows.

Across multiple business functions, the modeled performance difference reaches up to 75%, reflecting improvements in cost, productivity, speed and operating leverage.

Order-to-cash illustrates the pattern. Organizations operating at AI World Class performance levels achieve 52%-59% lower process costs, 56%-64% lower staffing requirements, 43% faster dispute resolution, and 85% fewer delinquent days than peer organizations.

Rather than resulting from a single automation initiative, these outcomes stem from changes across credit, order capture, billing, cash application and collections that reinforce one another throughout the revenue cycle.

The research examines where AI-enabled process redesign is producing measurable business outcomes and how benchmark data can be used to prioritize enterprise AI investments.

Read the research.

MARKET & BEST PRACTICE INSIGHT

CHRO priorities as AI reshapes work

Brief: IBM published a 56-page report, drawing on 1,500 CHROs and senior executives responsible for workforce strategy, to identify 10 capabilities of Thinking Organizations and five focus areas for CHROs as AI reshapes work.

Breakdown:

• A Thinking Organization brings people and AI together to make better decisions, continually adapt how work is done and drive growth.

• The report groups the 10 capabilities into five focus areas for CHROs, each with recommended actions to take (image above).

• Focus areas range from owning what is inherently human in an AI world to shaping the experience and culture that fuel growth.

• Leaders in these capabilities achieve 2x the revenue uplift, 2x stronger workforce outcomes and 2x higher innovation throughput.

Why it’s important: Two futures for HR are taking shape. In one, HR shrinks to a specialist function managing the human slice of an automated operation. In the other, HR architects how people and technology work together. The difference lies in capabilities CHROs build now.

INNOVATION INSIGHT

Anthropic and OpenAI cut model prices

Brief: Anthropic released Claude Opus 5.5, which performs at the level of Fable 5.1 on most work and costs 40% less to run than Opus 5, while OpenAI answered with GPT-6 Sol and Luna at half the price of the models they replace.

Breakdown:

• Opus 5.5 took top spot on Artificial Analysis's Intelligence Index, scoring 58, ahead of prior leaders Fable 5.1 and GPT-6 Astra.

• Anthropic addressed criticism of Claude's writing style, saying Opus 5.5 avoids jargon and follows users' style rules more closely.

• Anthropic also said Opus 5.5 hit its best score to date on internal alignment benchmarks, which assess how safely a model behaves.

• GPT-6 Sol and Luna narrowly beat their GPT-5.6 versions at half the price: $2/$10 per million tokens (Sol) and $0.10/$0.50 (Luna).

Why it’s important: Anthropic comes out on top in a head-to-head comparison, with Opus 5.5 showing major leaps at a reduced cost. OpenAI's rollout is largely cost-driven, but a 50% price cut for highly capable models is significant for enterprises managing their AI costs.

AI-NATIVE PROFESSIONAL

How to refresh an account plan with ChatGPT

Brief: In this guide, you'll learn how to give ChatGPT your account records, calls, threads, emails, usage notes, product needs and prior plans, then ask it to refresh the stakeholder map, discovery gaps, risks and next actions.

Step-by-step:

1. Define the account, timeframe, opportunity and audience, then attach the prior plan and recent account, product and usage context.

2. Ask ChatGPT to flag stale details, open risks and stakeholder changes, then run the starter prompt and review the value hypothesis.

3. Confirm the updated plan with the account owner before making changes in the CRM or sharing any customer-facing content.

4. Use the follow-up prompt to map the next actions to evidence and owners so the plan does not become a static summary.

Best practice: Separate customer evidence from internal assumptions, mark proof points cleared for customers and keep internal risks out of customer drafts.

For the full guide, including prompts, upgrade to Executive+ or The Boardroom.

MARKET & BEST PRACTICE INSIGHT

Cyber resilience in the boardroom

Brief: swissVR Monitor II/2026, produced by swissVR with Deloitte AG and the Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts, surveyed 281 Swiss Board members to benchmark the issues Boards face, with a focus on cyber resilience.

Breakdown:

• 41% of board members say their company has suffered a cyber attack, up from 28% in 2023. AI is involved in fewer than half of these.

• 74% of boards have no strategy for AI-based cyber attacks, and 68% lack a member with expertise in cyber-related issues or IT.

• Improving efficiency and optimising internal processes is the top issue Boards face in the next 12 months, cited by 33% of members.

• Digitalisation, robotics and automation is now the third most cited issue for the next 12 months, up from fourth in February 2026.

Why it's important: Cyber attacks can cause major losses, so Boards must treat cyber resilience as part of their mandate. Their priorities: test the crisis management plan, ensure the Board has the right expertise and secure comprehensive cyber reporting from management.

Deloitte published a 13-page FinOps for AI report on how cost visibility, governance and value metrics prevent budget surprises.

OpenAI expanded OpenAI Academy with new learning paths, including role-based learning for leaders, knowledge workers and builders.

BCG shared how Konecta scaled AI across 28 countries with BCG and BCG X, equipping over 25,000 employees to work in a new CX model.

EY examined the full cost of agentic AI and the value firms must create to recoup their investment; tokens are just the entry fee.

Deloitte detailed four design principles to help US agencies make digital services AI agent-ready while preserving citizen trust.

BCG discussed AI transformation with Singtel's AI chief, and published a 48-page report on scaling compute for India's AI ambition.

Jensen Huang put the odds of AI ending humanity by 2030 at 0%, calling ex-Anthropic researcher Jacob Coxon's warnings irresponsible.

SpaceXAI released Grok 4.7, scoring 46 on Artificial Analysis' index with strong agentic results, behind Anthropic, OpenAI and Meta.

Alibaba unveiled an AI chip with 3x its predecessor's performance, and plans a 5-10T-parameter model and 20GW of capacity by 2032.

Meta launched Muse connectors for developers, letting outside apps plug into its AI agent, plus a directory of approved options.

Twenty countries and the EU called for stronger global AI oversight, urging transparent company safety rules and shared standards.

The US President announced plans for an "AI Force" and an AI czar to oversee the industry, dismissing safety fears.

CAREER OPPORTUNITIES

S&P Global - Head of AI Transformation

Jeffries - Head of Enterprise AI

Cognizant - AI Consulting Senior Partner

EVENTS

MIT - AI Summit - October 02, 2026

The Hackett Group - AI Breakthrough Conference - 7-8 October, 2026

Agentic AI Enterprise Summit - October 14-15, 2026

Reach enterprise AI decision-makers:

• 66% of readers are C-level executives or VP and Director-level leaders.

• 63.2% of the audience is based in the U.S., EU, UK, ANZ, and Singapore.

• Read by leaders at Microsoft, Deloitte, the Fortune 500, and more.

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Conceived as a practical communication for executives Lewis Walker has worked with, this briefing has become a trusted resource for thousands of senior decision-makers shaping the future of enterprise AI.

We welcome your feedback.