Why 95% of AI rollouts fail and what L&D leaders can do about it

"Companies are pouring staggering amounts of money into artificial intelligence. IDC projects global spending will surpass half a trillion dollars within the next two years. Boardrooms are talking about it, tech vendors are promising it, and learning and development teams are feeling the pressure to show they're 'doing something with AI.' And yet, the results are almost invisible. MIT recently reported that 95 percent of AI projects fail to deliver measurable outcomes."

"The answer isn't hiding in the models or the code. The real story and the real risk are sitting right in front of us. Advance both, or fail at both Executives often frame AI transformation as a choice: is this a technology problem or a people problem? In reality, it's both, and treating it as anything less is a recipe for failure."

Companies are investing heavily in AI, with global spending projected to exceed half a trillion dollars within two years. Despite large investments, most AI projects fail to deliver measurable outcomes, with MIT reporting a 95 percent failure rate. Productivity gains are scarce, employee adoption is weak, and business cases often collapse. Failures stem from treating AI as either a purely technical or purely cultural challenge. Technical focus leads to stalled adoption; cultural focus ignores essential AI skills. AI requires concurrent, intentional advancement of technology implementation and human capability to achieve adoption and measurable impact.

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