Even if there is incredible pressure, especially on public companies, to invest heavily in AI, a few have taken big swings on the technology only to pull back. The buy now, pay later company Klarna laid off staff and paused hiring in 2024, claiming it could use AI instead. Less than a year later it was hiring again, explaining that “AI gives us speed. Talent gives us empathy.” 

Drive-throughs, from McDonald’s to Taco Bell, ended pilots testing the use of AI voice assistants. The vast majority of Coca-Cola advertisements, according to experts I spoke with, are not made with generative AI, despite the company’s $1 billion promise. 

So for now, the question remains unanswered: Are there companies out there rethinking how much their bets on AI will pay off, or when? And if there are, what’s keeping them from talking out loud about it? (If you’re out there, email me!)