New research: the 2026 AI in Finance Report is out

Rillion has published its 2026 AI in Finance Report, based on research with 250 CFOs and finance leaders across the US in partnership with Sapio Research. Nick Araco JR is one of 16 contributors from across finance and AI.

The report's central argument is what it calls the Finance AI Illusion — the gap between how far AI adoption has come in finance and how little has actually transformed underneath it. It breaks that into four parts: trust, skills, transformation and automation.

A few numbers worth carrying into your next leadership meeting: 68% of finance teams use AI daily, but only 39% of CFOs trust it to act independently. Just 21% see an internal AI skills gap today, while 60% expect AI fluency to become critical. And nine in ten report data capture shortcomings, with 45% still requiring human review of automated output.

The full report covers current usage patterns, where trust breaks down, the manual work that has not gone away, emerging skill requirements, and what separates the implementations that worked from the ones that stalled. It closes with a practical diagnostic checklist.

Read it here: https://www.rillion.com/finance-labs/ai-in-finance/