Free AI investment gate

Should this AI pilot actually get funded?

Estimate risk-adjusted first-year value, ROI, payback, and a 90-day stop threshold before a promising demo becomes another permanent software bill.

1. Enter the economics

Annual hours saved

Loaded hourly cost ($)

Annual revenue / margin lift ($)

Annual tool / model cost ($)

One-time setup cost ($)

Confidence in benefit estimate (%)

Risk / execution haircut (%)

Risk-adjusted annual benefit

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Year-1 net value

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Year-1 ROI

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Payback

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90-day benefit target

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Illustrative operating thresholds: ADVANCE when risk-adjusted ROI is at least 100% and payback is 6 months or less; TEST when ROI is positive and payback is 12 months or less; otherwise HOLD. Adjust thresholds to your organization.

2. Use the 90-day kill criterion

The 90-day benefit target is 25% of the risk-adjusted annual benefit. If a pilot cannot produce credible evidence that it is moving toward that level—or a deliberately chosen alternative milestone—stop, redesign, or renegotiate before sunk costs turn into permanent spend.

3. Put the decision into a control system

A single ROI number is not governance. The paid AI Governance Control Pack connects the economic gate to an AI inventory, vendor review, risk register, ownership, mitigation actions, review dates, and executive oversight.

See the AI Governance Control Pack — $49 Join updates

No information entered into this calculator is sent to Ops Control HQ; calculations run in your browser. Not legal, investment, accounting, or cybersecurity advice.