The real future of AI is about to begin

AI feels like it is stalling. But it’s the telltale sign that the real AI future is about to begin.

Author

Malcolm Frank, CEO
November 17, 2025

The real future of AI is about to begin

The “trough of disillusionment.” The “chasm.” The “stall point.” We have a whole menagerie of metaphors for the moment when technological promise collides with organizational reality.  And somehow, we’re surprised to find ourselves here again. 

AI was supposed to be different. In 2025 boards built roadmaps, CEOs made pronouncements, and consultants polished visions of a transformed enterprise. Instead, the numbers tell the story of a revolution stuck in first gear.

McKinsey reports that 88% of companies now use AI, but only a third have managed to scale it beyond scattered experiments. 62% are dabbling with AI agents, yet fewer than 10% have deployed them at any meaningful scale. And the payoff? Just 39% see any EBIT impact at all, most of it modest.

Naturally, this is the moment when people start whispering about a bubble — not just in the market, but inside their own organizations. Yet if you’ve been around long enough to remember client/server, the internet, or mobile, you know this rhythm by heart. We 1.) hype, 2.) stall, 3.) doubt, and then we break through. 

In that sense, the current stall isn’t frightening at all. It’s the telltale sign that the real AI future is about to begin.

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And one more thing…

People are starting to get divorced because of affairs with AI.

Till AI do us part.

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