AI Spending Hits Records While Enterprise Returns Stay Near Zero

The scale of AI capital commitment is not in question — what is in question is whether that commitment is connected to any outcome executives can point to. A 2025 MIT study analyzing 150 executive interviews and 300 public AI deployments found approximately 95% of generative AI pilots failing to deliver measurable ROI, a figure that, if accurate, makes the investment cycle look less like patient capital and more like sunk cost accumulation. McKinsey's November 2025 survey reported more than 80% of enterprises seeing no meaningful EBIT impact from AI…