MIT report: 95% of generative AI pilots at companies are failing

What’s behind successful AI deployments?

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Sheryl Estrada is a senior

Good morning. Companies are betting on AI—yet nearly all enterprise pilots are stuck at the starting line.

The GenAI Divide: State of AI in Business 2025, a new report published

How companies adopt AI is crucial. Purchasing AI tools from specialized vendors and building partnerships succeed about 67% of the time, while internal builds succeed only one-third as often.This finding is particularly relevant in financial services and other highly regulated sectors, where many firms are building their own proprietary generative AI systems in 2025. Yet, MIT’s research suggests companies see far more failures when going solo.Companies surveyed were often hesitant to share failure rates, Challapally noted. “Almost everywhere we went, enterprises were trying to build their own tool,” he said, but the data showed purchased solutions delivered more reliable results.Other key factors for success include empowering line managers—not just central AI labs—to drive adoption, and selecting tools that can integrate deeply and adapt over time.Workforce disruption is already underway, especially in customer support and administrative roles. Rather than mass layoffs, companies are increasingly not backfilling positions as they become vacant. Most changes are concentrated in jobs previously out

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Michael A. Discenza was appointed VP and CFO of The Timken Company (NYSE: TKR), effective immediately. Discenza has 25 years of experience at Timken in roles of increasing responsibility, including the last 10 as VP of finance, and group controller.

John Cole was appointed CFO of ELB Learning, a provider of immersive learning solutions. He brings more than 25 years of experience leading finance and operations for Fortune 100 and 500 companies, according to ELB. Cole aims to strengthen the financial infrastructure to support the company’s next phase of growth.

The report’s findings are based on a survey of more than 1,500 manufacturing leaders across 17 major manufacturing countries. Cybersecurity now ranks among the top external risks, second only to inflation and economic growth. One-third of respondents hold responsibilities spanning both information technology (IT) and operational technology (OT) cybersecurity.

Nearly half (48%) of cybersecurity professionals identified securing converged architectures as key to positive outcomes over the next five years, compared to just 37% of all respondents.

However, a shortage of skilled talent, training challenges, and rising labor costs remain major hurdles. As manufacturers recruit the next generation, cybersecurity and analytical skills are becoming hiring priorities—reinforcing the need to align technical innovation with human development, according to the report.

“Every single Monday was called 'AI Monday.' You couldn’t have customer calls, you couldn’t work on budgets, you had to only work on AI projects.”

—Eric Vaughan, CEO of enterprise software company IgniteTech, told Fortune in an interview that he established a mandate: on Mondays,