Across sectors, investors are raising pointed questions about whether companies are moving fast enough on artificial intelligence—strategically, operationally and in how they communicate their progress—to capture AI’s potential, create long-term value and protect their competitive advantage.
“When activists raise AI in a campaign, it usually comes down to one of two things,” says David Rosewater, Global Head of Shareholder Activism and Corporate Defense at Morgan Stanley. “Either they believe a company needs to be more aggressive in using AI to take costs out of the business, or more ambitious in using AI to expand growth by moving into new markets or broadening its addressable opportunity.”
Activists are making specific asks around AI, including:
- Margin improvement tied to AI-enabled efficiency
- More explicit articulation of AI strategy in investor materials
- Use of AI to improve sales productivity, onboarding or customer engagement
- Capital allocation changes linked to AI transformation
Heightened investor focus on AI has widened the gap between perceived leaders and laggards across industries. Companies are more exposed to activist campaigns if they struggle to articulate how AI fits into their long-term strategy or explain how investments can translate into measurable outcomes.
What Boards Should Expect on AI Activism—and How to Prepare
Recent campaigns show that activists are not only criticizing insufficient investment and transformation efforts, highlighting gaps in margin improvement plans and pushing for clearer disclosure of AI priorities. In some cases, they are even seeking board changes to strengthen oversight of technology‑enabled operational transformation.
For boards, this means ensuring management can clearly address several core questions:
- How is AI being deployed to improve efficiency or margins?
- Where can it drive incremental growth or open new revenue streams?
- How will progress on AI be monitored and communicated over time?
External communication addressing these issues can be a part of earnings calls, investor presentations and market updates—opportunities for companies to define their narrative before external pressure builds.
Looking ahead, spending discipline may become a growing part of the dialog between activists and companies. “What we haven’t seen much of—yet—is activists broadly approaching companies about spending too much on AI,” says Tom Miles, Global Co-Head of M&A. “But that changes if companies can’t clearly demonstrate returns. Management teams are going to be expected to show not just investment, but outcomes.”
Moving from AI Adoption to Investor Confidence
As AI becomes a more prominent activist theme, investors’ focus is shifting from whether companies are adopting the technology to whether boards and management teams can demonstrate a credible, well‑governed approach to AI‑enabled transformation. Activists are increasingly assessing whether leaders understand how AI is reshaping their industries, whether priorities are clearly set, and whether capital deployment aligns with those strategic ambitions.
