STAMFORD, Conn., January 21, 2026
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Gartner Says AI Is Leading CFOs to Spend More Time on Investor Relations
Use of AI Tools by Institutional Investors is Increasing Demands on Corporate Management Teams
The use of AI tools in investor research means that CFOs are devoting more time to investor relations (IR), according to Gartner, Inc. a business and technology insights company.
“It is going to become increasingly difficult for organizations to control their narrative and influence investors with manual methods alone,” said Dymah Paige, Director Analyst, Research in the Gartner Finance practice.. “To keep pace, CFOs should be considering private AI solutions available on the market today that can help them to spend more of their time and effort on higher impact priorities.”
A Gartner survey of 146 CFOs, conducted from October through December 2025, found that 35% or more of respondents reported an increase in the volume, frequency, and time sensitivity of investor communications and engagements in 2025 when compared to 2024 (see Figure 1).
Figure 1: CFOs Report Increases, or Significant Increases, in IR Activities from 2024-2025
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Source: Gartner (January 2026)
“Many institutional investors are using or evaluating AI tools in their investment and research processes,” said Paige. “If CFOs want to communicate to the markets effectively, while protecting their organizations against the hallucinations of public AI-powered answer engines, they must adapt their investor communications strategies to AI, as well as humans.”
The good news for CFOs, according to Gartner analysts, is that the same finance AI capabilities that are accelerating investor research processes can be used by finance and IR teams to enhance the depth of intelligence and operational efficiencies in their IR workflows.
“Companies can leverage these tools off the shelf and start to deploy right away, but in private, contained, and traceable environments. Some of the world’s biggest companies are already using these tools in their IR activities,” said Paige.
Gartner clients can read more in the report Instant Impact With Investors: How CFOs Use AI to Compete in Capital Markets and nonclients can read The CFO Report.
About Gartner Finance Symposium/Xpo 2026
Attendees of the Gartner Finance Symposium/Xpo 2026, taking place March 23-24 in Sydney, May 27-29 in National Harbor and June 8-9 in London, will join Gartner experts to explore how to test where AI is driving value, build leaner operating models without added complexity, lead capital and growth decisions through volatility, and build a culture of innovation and opportunity in Finance. CFOs and finance leaders will learn what it takes to build the kind of finance organization where insights lead to faster decisions, automation supports more of the close and forecast, and finance teams engage with the business without becoming a bottleneck. Follow news and updates from the conferences on X and LinkedIn using the hashtag #GartnerFinance.
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