Noesion Radarnoesion.ai
Survey2026-07-29

A survey of 700 engineering leaders and practitioners published by software delivery company Harness reports that about a quarter of enterprise AI spending is wasted. More than half of the organizations surveyed have no single owner for AI costs, and only one in five can trace an unexpected cost spike to its source within hours. Harness sells AI cost management tools, so the findings support its own product area.

What changed

Traditional cloud spending was tied mainly to servers and storage, which existing tracking tools were built to follow.

What it unlocks

A benchmark for how other organizations are handling AI cost ownership, forecasting and visibility.

  • roughly 1 in 4 dollars spent on AI is wasted
  • 700 engineering leaders and practitioners surveyed
  • more than half lack a dedicated owner for AI costs
  • 1 in 5 can trace an unexpected AI cost spike within hours
  • more than 40% still manage AI costs on spreadsheets

Send this to someone who needs it

Shares the story and its sources. Nothing about you.

What does this mean for your job?

This is the story as everyone gets it. Once a week we send you the version written for your role — what changed, why it matters for the work you actually do, and one thing to try. Free while we tune it.