The CIO mindset - CIOs are busy nowadays. CEOs want progress on AI, their C-Suite peers want AI transformation resources, and everyone wants to move fast. On the other hand the AI landscape is far from static, coding is a real use case, but costs are rising and headcount savings are being overwhelmed by increased demand. Other POCs on AI are still being figured out and ROI isn't fully realized. CIOs need to determine long term architectures, choose partners and technologies which will likely change a few times before we stabilize. On the day job, (non AI side), CIOs need to decide which SaaS contracts to commit to where to retain flexibility, how to deliver the promises already made with projects mid stream, and what to redirect to pay for the AI landslide. They need to find budget dollars to work on all of the following: Priorities 1. Figure out AI, evaluate, commit to clear ROI and keep your powder dry. 2. Deal with Mythos and prepare for a new world of Cyber, rethink point solves vs platforms. 3. Create capacity in budget for increasing AI usage. 4. Evaluate the vendor landscape and evaluate how the vendors will evolve and determine strategic redirection where needed. 5. Prioritize hardware purchases where compute and memory prices are going to be on the rise for the foreseeable future. This is normal in a technology super cycle. The CIOs will have to power through these dynamics. We are definitely seeing this in the equity markets with everyone trying to pick winners and losers. I think it's too early to draw long term conclusions. Customers are still adjusting to the economic realities of AI and reallocating spend, this reset is being reflected in the equity markets.