AI ROI Calculator for Private Equity

Estimate the return on an AI investment at the firm or portfolio-company level. Adjust the assumptions to match your situation. The math is simple and transparent, shown below.

Your inputs

Employees affected (headcount the AI touches)

Avg fully-loaded cost per employee / year ($)

Hours saved per employee / year

Productivity / revenue uplift (%) value created beyond time saved

Annual AI cost (licenses, infra, internal build, vendor fees)

Annual benefit: $0

Net annual benefit (benefit minus AI cost): $0

Payback period: n/a

3-year ROI: n/a

Assumptions: hourly value = (cost + 20% benefits) / 1,900 productive hours. Annual benefit = hours-saved value + uplift on annual payroll. Net benefit = benefit minus AI cost. 3-year ROI = 3x net benefit divided by AI cost. Adjust inputs above; the math updates live.

How to read this

A positive net benefit and a sub-12-month payback are strong signs the investment makes sense at this scale. If payback is long, the upside is usually in the uplift (revenue or quality gains) rather than pure time savings, so revisit that input. This is a planning tool, not a financial model. Real results depend on implementation, change management, and the specific use case.

Want a model built for your specific situation? We help firms turn these kinds of estimates into a real deployment plan, when it is a good fit. If you think we might be a match, we would be glad to hear from you. Talk to Adrian Scott →