• by Ray Schultz , Columnist, August 17, 2026

Email teams testing AI should know that it is not completely trusted at the corporate level. 

A quarter of large companies have found AI errors that reached external audiences or their board, Workiva reports in a new global study, “The Verification Gap: AI Enthusiasm Runs Into Reality,” done in collaboration with Ascend2. 

Moreover, 31% of executives and practitioners say misinformation is a top external threat to performance this year, up from 24% in 2025. And only 11% feel their data quality is sufficient for AI use.  

Yet 84% are at least somewhat confident of AI outputs in annual reports that appear without human review. And 48% expect measurable return on investment from AI within a year. 

But only 29% of practitioners are very confident that AI outputs are accurate, versus 39% of executives. 

Of the U.S firms surveyed, 31% view misinformation as a top external threat, compared to 26% globally.

Companies overall rank these AI risks as their most serious ones:

• Sharing proprietary data through unauthorized AI tools—35% 
• Failing to check AI-generated data before using—34%
• Repercussions from AI-informed decisions that prove incorrect—32% 
• Employees targeted by AI-assisted fraud--31% 
• Unsanctioned use of AI—30%

Meanwhile, 51% of institutional investors are tracking returns on investment in AI. Specifically, investment firms are looking at these metrics:

Revenue growth rates—51%

Sales conversion rates—42%

Internal rate of return on AI projects—40%

Time savings reported by management—40%

Automation rate, or percentage of tasks done without human help—40%

AI agents are becoming more autonomous, but companies say they still need software or platforms that help with the following:

• Manage AI agents/automated, documented workflows—55% 
• Act as databases/systems of record (such as general ledgers, carbon accounting systems)—49% 
• Enable traceability/audit trails of data lineage—45%

In another finding, 88% of public company executives in the U.S. would continue some form of quarterly reporting even if the Securities and Exchange Commission made it optional.

On behalf of Workiva, Ascend2 surveyed 2,272 finance, risk, sustainability and legal professionals, including 847 C-level executives in May 2026. These executives work at companies with at least 250 employees or $150 million in annual revenue, across North America, Latin America, Europe and the Asia-Pacific region. In addition, Ascend2 polled 367 institutional investors in the U.S., Canada and the UK. 

The full study can be found here.