As the market's interest in artificial intelligence (AI) technology shifts from hype to measurable returns, some companies have begun to report financial benefits resulting from their AI investments, and these benefits are evident in the most recent quarter.

According to the Stanford HAI '2026 AI Index' report, corporate investment in AI aimed at improving efficiency and profitability has seen a significant increase, reaching $581.7 billion in 2025, a 130% growth from the previous year.

As CEOs continue to emphasize the benefits of this technology, hyperscale cloud providers such as Microsoft, Amazon, Google, and Meta are expected to invest a total of $700 billion this year in building related infrastructure. Investors, on their part, are also seeking quantifiable returns.

Now, as the third-quarter financial reporting season unfolds, some companies have begun to present these earnings in numerical terms.

Santander begins to quantify AI earnings

Spanish banking giant Santander stated on Wednesday that in the first nine months of 2026, the AI project generated 194 million euros (216 million US dollars) in business value for the company.

Santander's Chief Financial Officer Jos stated that Garc is helping the bank to reduce low-value tasks, thereby allowing employees to focus on more valuable work.

Cantera indicates: 'This affects both revenue and costs, so in fact, already this quarter, we have been able to directly link a positive contribution to AI.'

He also said, "_AI is being integrated into all the processes we carry out in the bank, so it's quite difficult to simply determine how much of it comes from AI. However, it's clear that _AI is indeed improving the quality of service we provide to our customers."

Novartis and Standard Chartered claim that the impact of AI is already reflected in their financial results.

Novartis, a Swiss pharmaceutical giant, CEO Vas Narasimhan, stated to CNBC that AI has begun to contribute to the company's profits.

Novartis announced that, based on a fixed exchange rate, its core operating profit in the third quarter was $6.04 billion, a year-on-year increase of 10%. The company did not quantify how much of this could be attributed to AI, but Narasimhan said to CNBC: "I think this is the first time I have truly seen AI starting to improve our income statement in a tangible way."

On Tuesday, in the program “Squawk Box Europe”, Narasimhan stated: ‘We are working hard in the research and development field to see if it can truly improve R&D productivity.’

He also stated, "We have already seen some improvements in productivity, which are reflected in our profit performance, as well as in the capabilities we have to leverage AI through M&S (Marketing and Sales)."

Meanwhile, Chia Tai Group's Chief Financial Officer Manus Costello stated on the program Squawk Box Europe on Wednesday that the company is seeing AI "appearing in every corner of its business."

The report states that, excluding special items and calculated at a fixed exchange rate, revenue in the third quarter increased by 14%.

“Costello” means: “I believe you can see this in the revenue growth we have achieved, as well as in the operational leverage I mentioned.” He added that AI is helping managers to build better relationships with customers and generate more revenue.

He also stated, "We have also observed the strong operational leverage I mentioned earlier, which is that revenue growth has far outpaced cost growth. Part of the reason for this is that we are now able to deploy the AI tool to improve our core processes, allowing us to scale these processes very efficiently."

Carlsberg states that its earnings have not yet reached a significant scale.

Carlsberg CEO Jacob Aarup - Andersen stated this week in the program Squawk Box Europe that the company has not yet seen AI revenue reach a significant scale, but this technology has already impacted internal processes, cost efficiency, business and pricing procedures, marketing, as well as the supply chain.

The company's revenue increased by 4.9% in the third quarter.

Large tech companies claim that AI drives growth

In other sectors, tech companies are also reporting related revenues. On October 21st, in its financial report, Meta stated that its AI investments were generating “considerable incremental advertising revenue,” and the total revenue for the quarter ending September 30th increased by 26%.

On the other hand, although the revenue growth of Google Search, a business under Alphabet, has slowed down due to concerns about competition from AI, the company reported on Wednesday that Google Cloud's revenue more than doubled in the third quarter, approaching $31 billion.