Corporate leaders are starting to worry about the returns—or lack thereof—on their recent AI investments. McKinsey’s 2025 Global Survey found that 88% of organizations use AI in at least one business function, but only 39% report any impact on EBIT, and even among those, the impact is typically less than 5%. BCG’s analysis reveals that 60% of companies investing in AI generate no material value, and only 5% create substantial value at scale. Deloitte’s survey of nearly 2,000 executives finds that satisfactory ROI on a typical AI use case takes two to four years, which is much longer than the seven-to-twelve-month payback typically expected for technology investments.
