Home / Technology / Stop AI Wishing: Real Results Need Real Work
Stop AI Wishing: Real Results Need Real Work
4 Aug
Summary
- Companies often announce AI without a clear strategy.
- Many AI pilots fail to deliver real business results.
- AI layoffs can be driven by cash, not efficiency.
Companies are increasingly adding "AI" to job titles and product names, but often lack a strategic plan, a phenomenon termed "AI wishing." This belief that AI can magically solve complex problems leads to significant financial investment and sometimes job cuts, without building a real future.
Julie Averill, former CIO of Lululemon, notes that while AI demos are impressive, real-world application stalls when faced with messy, decades-old business data and systems. Reports indicate that 95% of enterprise generative AI pilots do not yield actual results.
The practice of "AI washing" involves companies exaggerating their AI capabilities under pressure to show progress. This can include implementing basic chatbots as transformations or using AI efficiency as a pretext for layoffs, with some companies rehiring for similar roles later.
This performative approach to AI erodes trust and breeds resistance among employees, with some actively sabotaging AI rollouts. Averill stresses that the path forward requires honesty about AI being a powerful but slow-to-implement technology that still depends heavily on human effort.
