McKinsey's 2026 State of AI survey of 1,719 respondents found that 37% attribute at least some EBIT impact to AI, and just 6% attribute 5% or more of their organization's EBIT to it and call the impact significant (McKinsey, reported by The Register, August 2026). That gap between AI activity and AI return is the defining problem of enterprise AI. It's also the question your board will eventually ask: what are we actually getting for this? Many AI programs look the same from
