Illustration: Tag Hartman-Simkins / Futurism. Source: Getty Images
After three years of unprecedented technology spending and constant hype, the demand for AI in the workplace appears to be drying up fast.
Looking at recent U.S. Census Bureau survey data: of economist The percentage of Americans using AI to “produce goods and services” in large companies is estimated to be just 11 percent as of October, the most recent survey date available. It’s not just that the numbers for a technology that’s supposed to change the world are a little damp, it’s suddenly going in the wrong direction. Economic publications say that the percentage is actually under This is up from 12% in the previous survey conducted two weeks ago.
Even if you look at the big picture, it’s not that pretty. Number of businesses with 100-249 employees reporting in March do not have 74.1% of respondents used AI within the past two weeks. According to the survey results, the number of “no” results has been steadily increasing over the past few months, reaching an abysmal 81.4 percent in the latest survey.
Meanwhile, among large companies with 250 or more employees, 68.6% answered “no,” up from 62.4% in February, the lowest this year.
This data is nothing if not a major red flag for an industry expected to spend $5 trillion on AI infrastructure between now and 2030. This will require a significant increase in revenue from both business and personal AI usage, with the latter lagging behind.
Unfortunately for the technology industry, enterprise AI customers are not picking up that slack. Various non-governmental studies have been cited; economist Although the numbers varied widely, they all seemed to spell out the same result. AI is more of an experimental plaything in the workplace than a huge productivity booster.
One Stanford University economist who tracks the use of generative AI in the workplace found that usage is decreasing significantly from month to month. In June, 46 percent of respondents reported using the technology, but that number had fallen to 37 percent by September. Separate estimates by fintech firm Lamp found that AI usage among U.S. companies rose to about 40% in early 2025, but then plateaued.
The results mark a disappointing summer for AI progress, with models such as OpenAI’s GPT-5 falling short of expected performance gains. Still, cracks in companies’ AI adoption are starting to appear as early as December 2024, with an EY Pulse survey of 500 senior executives finding that more than half feel they are “not doing their part” to support AI in their companies.
Instead, executives pointed to a gradual rise in “AI fatigue” among rank-and-file employees, something that a year of AI scares likely hasn’t helped.
There is a $600 billion gap between AI revenue and AI spending, and huge amounts of money are at stake if we can start bringing the technology home.
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