A synthesis on AI in IR & capital markets.
Public data from the most-cited 2026 sentiment surveys, paired with three decades of ICR engagement context. Where the puck is going, what clients are starting to expect, and what we recommend doing about it.
Published May 2026 · ICR AI & Intelligence
The market is moving faster than CEOs can deliver.
68%
Of CEOs increasing AI spend in 2026
53%
Of investors expecting AI ROI in six months or less
16%
Of large-cap CEOs who believe they can deliver in that window
73%
Of IR teams citing data-integration challenges
Four shifts reshaping the communications operating model.
AI is rewriting the IR cycle from earnings prep to perception tracking.
The fifty-question quarterly Q&A is the most automatable deliverable in IR. RAG over prior transcripts, peer transcripts, and sell-side notes generates the management script and likely analyst questions in hours, not weeks. Edelman has productized continuous perception monitoring through Trust Stream; FGS deploys Fergus to all 1,500 of its consultants. Issuers will increasingly expect their advisors to bring the AI stack rather than recommend they buy one. The firms that price retainers around junior-staff hours will see margin compression first; the firms that productize the workflow will reset their economics.
Generative Engine Optimization is the new IPO website project.
More buy-side analysts are starting their research in ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, or Claude than in Bloomberg. If your S-1 is not legible to a language model, the model picks the narrative for you. FGS Global named GEO as one of four pillars of its AI Advisory practice; Brunswick built an entire offering around it called Algorithmic Relations. The IPO window does not give time to clean up a mis-summarized risk factor after the fact, and the cost of getting it right pre-filing is small relative to a single mis-priced book.
AI-driven misinformation is now a board-level reputation risk.
FGS Global acquired Memetica in early 2026 specifically to surface deepfake and dark-web narrative threats before they reach the news cycle. The expectation among public-company boards is shifting from 'do we have a crisis comms vendor' to 'do we have an AI-aware crisis comms vendor.' The right preparation is not a once-a-year tabletop, it's an always-on monitoring layer paired with holding-statement templates grounded in approved messaging, ready to ship within minutes of an incident.
AI oversight is now a proxy-season disclosure question.
Five questions every board should be able to answer cleanly this proxy season: what is our AI risk inventory, who is accountable when an AI system causes harm, what is our policy on AI-generated content in disclosures, how would we respond to a deepfake event, and what is our AI governance structure. The SEC has already settled AI-washing cases; institutional investors and proxy advisors are starting to score this. Saying nothing is the worst posture.
Four moves for IPO-stage and public companies.
- 01
Build the firm-level AI operating system before competitors do. The companies that wait until proven ROI will be 9 to 12 months behind by 2027.
- 02
Productize the workflows AI is going to compress anyway. Perception studies as a quarterly heartbeat product. IPO readiness as a 2-week diagnostic. Pricing follows productization.
- 03
Pair every senior practitioner with an AI workflow before the next earnings cycle. The cost of preparation falls by an order of magnitude. The capacity returns to client-facing work.
- 04
Name a public-facing AI leader. Currently ICR has no public AI leader; FGS, Edelman, Teneo, and Brunswick all do. The role itself is competitive signal.
ICR Outlook synthesizes public data from the most-cited 2026 sentiment surveys (Teneo Vision 2026, Edelman Trust Barometer Flash Poll on AI, IR Impact, PR Week, PRovoke Media) with three decades of ICR engagement context. Every quantitative claim is sourced inline. Forward-looking statements are flagged.
The next volume of ICR Outlook will publish ahead of the ICR Conference 2027 in January.