Why so many businesses are still on the wrong side of the AI divide

Roughly two-thirds of U.S. gross domestic product growth in the first half of 2025 was driven by business spending on software and equipment designed to fuel AI adoption.

With so much investment and energy focused on unlocking the potential of AI, it only stands to reason that many businesses, investors and commentators are starting to question when we might expect to see a payoff.

Researchers from MIT and McKinsey have been quick to note that, for many businesses, the fruits of these AI investments may still take a long time to harvest, pointing to the facts that 95% of enterprise AI projects have failed and many companies are still not seeing a payoff from their AI investments.