Fortune AIQ 50

Fortune expanded upon the foundation introduced by ServiceNow’s Enterprise AI Maturity Index, which provided a framework for assessing AI readiness across organizations and is an annual deep dive into the state of AI usage in private and public sector companies worldwide. The methodology, outlined in the report, is available here. 

Fortune also partnered with ETR to develop a methodology for evaluating Fortune 500 companies on their AI implementation, supported by an ETR-designed survey of technology leaders assessing both the value of their organizations’ AI investments and their impressions of AI adoption among peer companies in their sector. Survey responses were aggregated with prior ETR data from the past year, including the first seven questions adapted from ETR’s recurring “AI Product Series,” and the combined results were used to calculate the AIQ ranking score that serves as the basis for the final ranking. Polling was conducted from Aug. 29 to Sept. 19, 2025, with responses reviewed for data quality checks, resulting in a final sample of 165 respondents.

From the start, the goal of this project was to design a data collection process that could assess how effectively different Fortune 500 companies have been implementing AI. We knew at the beginning that it would not be feasible to collect complete data on all 500 companies in the Fortune 500, so we began the project by identifying a smaller list of companies in the Fortune 500 to target for data collection. Next, working with the Fortune editorial team, ETR designed a survey questionnaire that could be sent to IT decision makers at Fortune 500 organizations to evaluate how much success an organization has had at implementing AI. The survey consisted of a short screener to confirm employment status with a Fortune 500 organization, followed by a section designed to assess investment levels in AI technology at a respondent’s own company and a section designed to assess impressions respondents have of AI implementation at other companies in their sector.

The final AIQ RANKING SCORE is a weighted average of three component scores, where each component score represents an aggregation of survey responses collected by ETR. Those components are named below:

1. Self-Report Score

2. Peer-Report Score

3. Peer-Selection Score

The “Self-Report” score is calculated based on survey responses where respondents are asked to reflect on AI implementation at their own company; the “Peer-Report” score is based on responses where respondents are asked to reflect on AI implementation at other companies in their sector; and finally the “Peer-Selection” score is based on how frequently respondents select a company as “most effective” in their sector at implementing AI. 

“Self-Report”: Survey questions focused on AI implementation, return on investment, spending, and value.

“Peer-Report”: Survey questions focused on AI implementation, business development, competitive advantage, governance, leadership within sector/industry, and future prospects.

“Peer-Selection”: The last AIQ survey question asked respondents, "Besides your own company, which single competitor/company in your sector/industry segment do you think is using AI most effectively?"

ServiceNow, ETR, and Fortune team including Ashley Lutz, Elcio Salgado, Alexei Oreskovic, Jeremy Kahn, Lydia Belanger, and Scott DeCarlo.