95% of Companies See 'Zero Return' on $30B Generative AI Spend

Summary

27 Over the last three years, companies worldwide have invested between 30 and 40 billion dollars into generative artificial intelligence projects. Yet most of these efforts have brought no real business return.A new study from MIT found that 95 percent of enterprise organizations report zero measurable gains from the adoption of AI tools. Only a small group has seen strong benefits. “Just five percent of integrated AI pilots are extracting millions in value,” the report said. In contrast, the vast majority showed no impact on revenue or earnings at all.Many companies rushed to test programs such as ChatGPT, Copilot, and other large language model platforms. Surveys show that over 80 percent of major firms have already explored or piloted them. Nearly 40 percent of companies reported deploying these systems at some level. But researchers found most use cases were limited to boosting individual productivity rather than improving a company’s overall profits.One major reason is that generative AI tools often fail to match real work processes. The report described “brittle workflows, lack of contextual learning, and poor alignment with day-to-day operations.”Unlike humans, most generative AI models cannot retain past feedback or build new reasoning ability over time. They also struggle to adapt to context or transfer lessons across different tasks.“Most GenAI systems do not retain feedback, adapt to context, or improve over time,” the study said. Without these traits, long-term integration remains costly and ineffective.The hype around generative AI led to high expectations in boardrooms. But the report suggests that many of the investments have not translated into better profits or meaningful cost savings yet.Some companies use AI for customer service, marketing, or writing assistance. While these tools can save time for workers, they rarely add direct earnings for the business itself.The report also downplayed fears that generative AI will cause sweeping job losses in...