When Developing an AI Strategy, Beware the Urgency Trap

Illustration by Oscar Duarte

There’s a consistent pattern in failed or underperforming AI initiatives. Business leaders tend to frame AI through the lens of what they see as the most urgent problems—bottlenecks in

Despite huge investments on AI deployments, companies have seen returns remain stubbornly modest. Last summer, an MIT report found that 95% of gen AI projects fail. A recent comprehensive large-scale survey conducted by the National Bureau of Economic Research among more than 6,000 senior executives in the United States, United Kingdom, Germany, and Australia found that roughly 90% reported no measurable improvement in productivity attributable to AI cross the last three years. The problem, however, is not that AI does not work. The problem is how leaders think about it.