"And for the AI companies rocketing forth like heat-seeking missiles, including OpenAI, Anthropic, Google, Microsoft, Meta, and xAI, the sun is still shining: The research firm Gartner forecasts worldwide AI spending will reach nearly $1.5 trillion in 2025 and surpass $2 trillion in 2026, fueled by integration into smartphones, PCs, and enterprise infrastructure. Elon Musk and other AI leaders continue to insist that artificial general intelligence (AGI) -an AI that can think and learn like a human, across many tasks-is on the horizon."
"But on the ground, the temperature is dropping, and it's starting to feel like sweater weather. Among customers and in financial markets, skepticism is rising as some question whether the massive investment in AI will ever be justified by revenues. Startup funding is under sharper scrutiny for small and midsize firms; enterprise projects are stuck in "pilot purgatory"; corporate buyers are questioning return on investment for AI expenditures; and the rising cost of computing power has become a wall many would-be competitors can't climb."
Generative AI surged after ChatGPT's launch in November 2022, prompting intense investment from firms including OpenAI, Anthropic, Google, Microsoft, Meta, and xAI. Gartner forecasts worldwide AI spending will approach $1.5 trillion in 2025 and exceed $2 trillion in 2026 as AI integrates into smartphones, PCs, and enterprise systems. Prominent leaders continue to predict the eventual arrival of artificial general intelligence. At the same time, customer and market skepticism is growing over whether AI investments will translate into revenue. Startup funding faces greater scrutiny; many enterprise initiatives remain stuck in pilot purgatory; buyers question ROI; and rising compute costs block potential competitors. The prospect of an AI winter hinges on unmet expectations and adoption failures.
Read at Fortune
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