Echoing economist Robert Solow's 1987 observation about computers, thousands of CEOs now admit AI has no measurable productivity impact. This suggests history is repeating, where major technological shifts have a long, multi-year lag before their economic benefits are truly realized and measured.

New McKinsey research reveals a significant AI adoption gap. While 88% of organizations use AI, nearly two-thirds haven't scaled it beyond pilots, meaning they are not behind their peers. This explains why only 39% report enterprise-level EBIT impact. True high-performers succeed by fundamentally redesigning workflows, not just experimenting.

A major NBER/Fed paper suggests 80% of firms see no AI impact, influencing policy. However, this data is flawed as it overlooks AI embedded within SaaS products that users don't recognize as "using AI." This creates a dangerous disconnect between reality and government perception.

Despite widespread adoption, Patrick Collison notes that AI has not yet produced measurable gains in macroeconomic productivity. He points to recent studies and the lack of corresponding GDP growth outside the U.S. as evidence that the diffusion of these technologies through the economy is slow and complex.

A small cohort of power users are achieving massive productivity gains with AI, while most companies are stuck at the most basic stages. This creates a widening competitive gap where firms that master simple access and training will dramatically outperform those mired in bureaucratic inertia.

While companies report low official adoption, about 50% of workers use AI and hide the resulting productivity gains. This 'shadow adoption' stems from fear that revealing AI's efficiency will lead to layoffs instead of rewards, preventing companies from capitalizing on the technology's full potential.

Despite reports of explosive growth from AI companies like OpenAI, a broad Gallup survey shows that daily AI adoption in the US workforce remains critically low at 10%. This highlights a massive gap between the AI industry's narrative and the reality of workplace integration.

There is a significant gap between how companies talk about using AI and their actual implementation. While many leaders claim to be "AI-driven," real-world application is often limited to superficial tasks like social media content, not deep, transformative integration into core business processes.

A significant disconnect exists between AI's market valuation, which prices in massive future GDP growth, and its current real-world economic impact. An NBER study shows 80% of US firms report no productivity gains from AI, highlighting that market hype is far ahead of actual economic integration and value creation.