The new MIT study reporting 5% success rate in GenAI pilots has evoked some really strong reactions. It's actually quite nuanced.
It reports high adoption by individual employees but no impact on overall profits as reported in the P&L statements. The 5% number explicitly refers to the rate of pilots getting to production.
This is not extremely surprising since the rates of pilots getting to production tend to be low. This is generally well-known in corporate innovation. Most pilots go nowhere.
And some failure is necessary. Too low means the organization is playing too safe and the overall rate of innovation is likely low. But too low a number implies that the pilots are not aligned with the organizational mission and value generating functions.
This is especially true of new and emerging technologies such as AI, Quantum computing etc. In our conversations, we see this is over and over. Top management pressures the team to do "something". This ends up being a huge waste of energy and resources for everyone involved and can be fatal for startups.
An understanding of how a new technology actually fits in with the rest of the product system and it's rate of progress can lead to much more effective pilots. We're solving this with Technext Inc. and will love to speak to you if you've been the "victim" of a failed pilot and want to do better
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