AI's $131 Billion Reality Check: When 70% Failure Becomes 100% Hype

Google's best AI fails 7 out of 10 office tasks. Yet we bet half the world's venture capital on this broken promise.

I've tracked innovation cycles for decades, but this one's different, we're watching $131.5 billion chase a 70% failure rate. Carnegie Mellon researchers tested Google's flagship Gemini 2.5 Pro on real office tasks: responding to colleagues, web browsing, coding.

Result? It failed 70% completely, 61.7% including partial attempts. OpenAI's GPT-4o performed worse at 91.4% failure. Amazon's Nova-Pro? An embarrassing 98.3%.

Yet since ChatGPT launched in November 2022, AI investments surged 52% to $131.5 billion in 2024 alone, half of all global venture capital. Gartner's Anushree Verma warns 40% of corporate AI projects face cancellation by 2027 due to runaway costs and "vague business value."

Their investigation found only 130 legitimate AI agents among thousands claimed, classic "agent washing" where companies rebrand old products as AI.

The consequences mount daily. Apple faces class action over its "Intelligence" feature. Delphia paid $225,000 for faking an AI analyst. Unlike Web3's $8 billion peak quarter, single AI companies now raise $2 billion rounds without a product.

Three realities emerge: • Best AI agents can't handle basic office work • Over 40% of projects heading for expensive failure • The US economy is now fused to this failing technology

In the gap between promise and performance lies opportunity, but only for those brave enough to see reality of what AI really is and can become. Until then, when innovation becomes religion and failure becomes feature, who pays the price?

Read the full article on Futurism.

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