Is AI a technology of unprecedented transformative power, or a bubble waiting to burst? When generative AI (genAI) exploded into the public consciousness a few years ago, the smart money was on the former. Today, many observers are not so sure.
Right now, it is probably something in between. For three years, the hype around AI – and genAI in particular – had only been getting louder. Here was a technology that could lower costs while supercharging productivity, improve customer experiences while eliminating human error. Most people believed that early adopters would gain competitive advantage.
At least, they did until summer 2025, when a widely circulated study by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) derailed the AI-hype train, albeit temporarily. It found that most businesses trialling AI technology were failing to see any value from it at all.
When the research was conducted, US businesses had collectively invested up to USD 40 billion into internal AI projects. The vast majority of them (95%) had seen no return on investment, the MIT study concluded. Most pilot programs had failed to hit targets because of ’brittle workflows, lack of contextual learning, and misalignment with day-to-day operations’. The study garnered publicity around the world and prompted an obvious question: was AI a spent force? A year on from the research, the answer is almost certainly ’no‘, but with caveats.
As AI tools bed in, they are beginning to show real promise in a range of areas, but only when deployment is properly planned and governed. AI continues to disappoint when it is implemented in a haphazard or piecemeal way, or (to put it another way) because ‘we need to do something with AI’. The technology itself appears to provide real benefits. It is what you do with it that counts.
AI expansion
What’s clear is that businesses are still investing heavily in AI. According to the most recent McKinsey State of AI report, 88% of organisations questioned, use AI in at least one business function – that’s up by ten percent in a year.
The findings are mirrored in business operations around the world, not least across our own UHY network where AI is utilised in an expanding number of ways.
“We use it in multiple ways across different groups,” says Cory McNeley, managing director at US-based UHY Consulting and leader of the firm’s Technology Innovation service line. “On the consulting side especially, we’re using it to help minimise mundane tasks and standardise production. Across the broader organization, we also have Copilot integrated, along with some ancillary tools that different teams are using for their own purposes such as data extraction, form population and services for CAS clients."
Read the full story in Issue 22 of the UHY Global Magazine published by UHY International.
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