The era of AI was ushered in with dazzling displays of its seemingly endless capabilities and a promise to change the world. After OpenAI sparked the generative AI boom in 2022, the pace and scale of AI growth in just about every major industry have been staggering.
These days, although many of the promises have been materializing, it’s left the AI industry itself with a self-inflicted headline problem.
It’s the headlines about spending that have been most troubling. For example, $675 billion in infrastructure investment this year alone and major AI companies like Nvidia surpassing $5 trillion market caps are the kind of news that dominate business headlines. When it comes to adoption, according to KPMG, 93% of US companies will deploy AI in finance within the next 18 months. Look at headlines about layoffs and you’ll find CEOs flattening organizations in the name of efficiency.
Headlines like these have begun to slowly turn AI into public enemy number one. More so because there’s one headline that still barely exists after all the hype and the outrageous amounts of money being spent: “AI generated $X million in measurable new value for this company.”
Far from it, MIT actually found that 95% of enterprise AI pilots deliver zero measurable P&L impact. Cambridge’s 2026 Global AI in Financial Services Report found that while 81% of firms are adopting AI, only 14% consider it transformational. The money is certainly flowing in but, for now, it seems clear that the results aren’t flowing out.
