Why Some Businesses Are Slowing Down on AI and What They Are Doing Instead
AI adoption is still expanding across the business world, but the pace and posture have changed.
According to McKinsey’s 2025 State of AI report, more than 70 percent of organizations now use AI in at least one business function, yet fewer than one third have successfully scaled it across their organization. AI is not being abandoned, but it is being reassessed.
That reassessment is showing up in several clear ways.
First, spending is becoming more selective. A Reuters survey of global executives found that roughly one in four companies plans to delay or slow new AI investments. The reason is not a lack of belief in the technology, but early implementations that failed to produce clear return on investment. Many organizations underestimated the operational and cultural work required to make AI useful.
Second, employee resistance is influencing decision making. Research from Harvard Business Review shows growing concerns around trust, job security, accountability, and oversight. In response, many companies are shifting away from full automation and toward human in the loop approaches where AI supports decision making rather than replaces it.
Third, AI is moving from experimentation to infrastructure. Forrester reports that businesses are reducing broad pilot programs and focusing instead on narrower, outcome driven use cases. These include customer support triage, internal knowledge search, reporting automation, and workflow assistance. These areas offer measurable value with lower risk.
The result is not an AI backlash.
It is a correction.
Businesses are no longer asking if they can use AI.
They are asking where AI actually belongs.
In 2026, competitive advantage is not coming from adopting AI the fastest.
It is coming from adopting it intentionally.
Sources Referenced
- McKinsey and Company, The State of AI 2025
- Reuters, Global executive AI spending surveys
- Harvard Business Review, AI adoption and workforce impact
- Forrester Research, Enterprise AI investment trends