I want to open with something that might get me uninvited from a few LinkedIn feeds: most AI initiatives are going to fail. Not because the technology is bad. Because almost everyone is doing it backwards. A 2025 MIT study — one of the most comprehensive looks yet at how companies are actually using generative AI — found that roughly 95% of enterprise AI pilots never deliver a measurable return. Not "underperformed." Not "took longer than expected." Zero measurable impact on