How CFOs at Chevron, ServiceNow and Nasdaq decide which AI bets create value

Good morning.

AI projects must earn their share of corporate budgets.

“It doesn’t get a free pass just because it’s got AI on the front of the opportunity,” Eimear Bonner, CFO of Chevron , told me during a panel session at the Fortune Most Powerful Women Summit in Santa Barbara on Tuesday.

“It’s got to compete for capital.” Bonner’s test: a clear path to value, a transformative target and results that show up on the bottom line.

“It can’t be a science experiment,” she said.

Gina Mastantuno, president and CFO of ServiceNow , agrees AI must pay off, but said the way CFOs calculate ROI is a bit different today.

Beyond measuring potential gains in revenue and profitability, finance chiefs must also weigh the cost of inaction: falling behind competitors that adopt AI, with long-term competitiveness at stake, she said.

ServiceNow funds projects that strengthen competitive differentiation, solve a customer problem and deliver measurable value on a clear timeline, she said.

“I don’t think the winners in AI are going to be the ones that spend the most,” she said.

Mastantuno urged measuring outcomes, not activity—”not how many AI pilots you have,” but whether AI lifts revenue, efficiency and speed.

ServiceNow expects $500 million in savings this year, largely from using its own products.

Sarah Youngwood, EVP and CFO of Nasdaq said the company categorizes investments into “horizon zero”—foundational needs like cybersecurity—followed by short-term return initiatives, medium-term bets, and longer-term R&D.

Nasdaq’s decade-old investments in cloud and algorithmic AI, Youngwood said, position it to serve clients today.

“It’s all about the gold standard data that we have,” she said, pointing, for example, to data across 3,500 institutions representing $12 trillion in assets.