The AI information gap and the CIO’s mandate for transparency

B2B buyers have entered 2026 with enough AI experience to have developed a healthy skepticism about it.  

As CIOs, we see it firsthand: buyers are no longer wowed by AI hype. They want clarity and transparency. From model functionality and training data to privacy, customers are peppering our teams with in-depth questions.  

The trouble is, most vendors aren’t ready with good answers. This AI information gap is eroding trust at exactly the moment when we need to earn it. As CIO of a tech company on the frontlines, I’ve learned that closing this gap is firmly part of our job description. 

Buyers push for AI clarity  

Generative AI may be the hottest buzzword in boardrooms, but on the ground, buyers are uneasy. In the 6sense 2025 Buyer Experience Report, 58% of B2B buyers said uncertainty about how AI was implemented in vendors’ solutions caused them to engage sales teams earlier than usual.  

Think about that: after years of buyers delaying contact, over half are now pulling sellers in sooner because they need more clarity. Met with a lack of information on vendor websites, 62% of the study’s respondents turned to salespeople to answer AI-related questions. 

The subtext is clear in these early conversations. Buyers aren’t simply curious. They’re concerned. They have questions about features, but also about risk. How was the model trained? What data went into it? How is my data handled? Who owns any outputs? Is it secure?  

Objections center on trust, not just technology performance 

The good news is that customers broadly believe AI works. They’ve seen the dazzling demos and heard the success stories.  

The bad news: They’re not sure they can trust it.  

Multiple 2025 publications confirm that privacy, security and governance issues have overtaken technical doubts in the buyer’s mind. For example, Forrester’s latest B2B buying forecast predicts purchasing decisions will hinge on proof and transparency over promises. They expect 2026’s B2B deals to be “defined by tangible evidence, accountability and continued buyer empowerment.”  

If an AI vendor can’t demonstrate how their model works, what data it learns from and what guardrails are in place, buyers move on. Forrester even warns that “failure to ensure transparency” opens the door to legal risk and customer mistrust.  

Transparency has become a competitive differentiator. The vendors who are open about their AI’s inner workings, limitations and safeguards earn trust in a way that those who play things close to the vest can’t. 

Transparency as a core value (and competitive edge) 

It’s time we treat transparency as seriously as we treat features or pricing. Consider the selling process.  

Today the toughest questions aren’t about functionality gaps; they’re about data handling and AI governance. A recent G2 survey found that nearly 8 in 10 buyers now face stricter AI review from their own IT security, legal and compliance teams. This means even after we convince the business champion, we still must satisfy a gauntlet of risk auditors.  

I’ve experienced this at 6sense — our sales engineers spend as much time providing security docs and model info as they do giving demos. Buyers’ top-of-funnel excitement quickly turns into bottom-of-funnel due diligence on AI. Transparency directly impacts sales velocity and win rates. We either equip our field teams to address these trust objections head-on, or we watch deals stall out. 

Forward-looking CIOs and CDOs are already responding by baking transparency into their products and sales motions. This can range from publishing AI fact sheets to offering sandboxes so customers can see the AI in action.  

If you can credibly show, “Here’s how we govern our AI internally, here are the guardrails we enforce and you can expect the same of our product,” that builds confidence with customers. 

CIOs: Deliver a unified AI message 

Delivering this kind of clarity cuts across product, sales, marketing, legal, compliance and security. The CIO sits at the intersection, which is why we must lead the charge in coordinating enterprise-wide AI transparency initiatives. We’re uniquely positioned to understand the technology deeply, while also appreciating the risk and governance angles. 

Our mandate is to ensure every customer-facing channel sings from the same AI song sheet. Here are a few pragmatic steps for CIOs: 

• Centralize your AI facts. Work with product and engineering teams to document how each AI feature works, where the data comes from, how models are trained and how outputs are validated. This “AI dossier” should be accessible and understandable to non-engineers.

• Enable your sales force. Coordinate with sales and sales engineering to arm them with FAQs, comparison sheets and objection-handling guides focused on AI. Ensure they have accurate, approved answers to questions about data usage, privacy and security — and can get more technical detail on demand. 

• Align marketing and messaging. Partner with marketing to infuse transparency into marketing content. The website, whitepapers and webinars should proactively address common AI questions rather than avoiding them. Make sure marketing isn’t overpromising what AI can do. Set the right expectations up front. 

• Lock arms with legal and compliance. Update your privacy policies, terms of service and security documentation to explicitly cover AI components. Have legal verify that your public claims about AI (and use of customer data) are truthful and compliant. This team should also help craft clear language to describe AI processes to customers. 

• Train your front lines. Customer success and support teams will field post-sale questions about AI; make sure they understand the technology and the company’s policies well enough to answer confidently. A confused or incorrect answer from a support rep can undermine the trust you’ve built during the sale. 

As CIOs, we may not be used to stepping into a marketing or sales enablement role, but in the AI era, we have to. We’re the custodians of the truth behind the product and it’s up to us to disseminate that truth both internally and externally. If we don’t take ownership of the AI narrative, nobody else will have the credibility to do it right. 

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