Hi all, Welcome to our Sunday edition, where we explore the latest developments, ideas, and questions shaping the exponential economy. Enjoy the weekend reading! Azeem It’s the end of AI as we know it, and I feel fineAI business adoption is down. Or is it?
A few weeks ago, the mainstream swooned over a study claiming that 95% of enterprise AI pilots fail to impact P&L. As we pointed out, the methodology was deeply flawed. A similar misreading lurks in the latest US Census Bureau data. At first glance, the survey seems to show that only 12% of large US firms report using AI and that the use is on the decline. But once you break the data down by sector, as Paul Kedrosky has done, most industries show rising adoption (with jagged swings more likely due to sampling error than real-world shifts). The deeper problem is definitional. The survey footnote lists “machine learning, natural language processing, predictive analytics, image processing, data analytics…” as forms of AI. If you believe only 12% of large companies do any data analytics, you’ll see why I’m sceptical. Misleading numbers like these skew the narrative and fuel headlines about an “AI bubble.” It is the question I hear most often after labour-market fears (funny how countervailing those concerns can be). Next week, we’ll have a major analysis on the AI bubble question. Stay tuned. In the meantime, see also:
Smol continues to be beautifulIn my annual outlook in January 2024, I forecasted:
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🔮 Sunday edition #541: AI adoption myths. Carbon storage ceilings. Microsoft’s hedge. Nepal, microdrama, 50s ftw+…
Saturday, 13 September 2025
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