It remains “very difficult [to find] actual, materially measurable financial impacts” from spending on AI, per new study

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• Gary Marcus highlights a new study confirming it remains “very difficult to find actual, materially measurable financial impacts” from AI spending, despite trillions invested.
• Early 2023 predictions of AI (like ChatGPT) 10x’ing productivity or boosting GDP have shown “zero evidence of anything like that happening at scale,” creating a “perverse and often baffling” gap between investment and documentable ROI.
• This financial skepticism is echoed by recent events, including generative AI darling Character.AI filing for bankruptcy and Coreweave bonds reaching 15%, signaling credit markets’ waning confidence.
• A practitioner’s comment suggests that the lack of ROI often stems from companies starting with technology (e.g., “throwing AI at everything”) instead of defining desired outcomes and identifying specific bottlenecks, often finding that advanced LLMs are not the optimal or necessary solution.