Most AI investment stories focus on the scale of deployment, the talent, or the promise of foundational models. But a recent IBM Institute for Business Value survey of 1,300 senior AI decision makers points to a different driver of success—one rooted not in the model itself, but in the technology environment it must operate within. That environment carries its own baggage in the form of tech debt—a legacy of past technology decisions that can quietly undercut even the boldest AI ambition.