A recent MIT report dropped a cold bucket of water on the AI hype parade: 95% of organizations get zero return on GenAI investments, despite spending billions. The problem isn’t the models — it’s the approach. So what actually works?
PDQ’s own Brock Bingham sat down with PDQ CEO Dan Cook to dig into that exact question. The conversation cuts through the hype and offers a clear-eyed look at how AI can actually help teams — not replace them. If you're wondering how to move past pilot purgatory and get real value from AI, Brock and Dan have thoughts.
Spoiler: The secret isn't another fancy model. It's thoughtful adoption, clear guidelines, and empowering your people.
Here’s a quick preview, but don’t miss the full post on LinkedIn.
Why do most AI projects stall?
According to MIT, most companies are stuck in the AI demo loop: flashy pilots, no real deployment, no P&L impact. Despite widespread adoption of tools like ChatGPT, few custom solutions ever make it past the starting line.
MIT’s key finding? The divide between AI success and failure isn’t about tech: It’s about execution. Organizations that treat AI like a plug-and-play solution are missing the point. The ones getting results? They’re integrating it slowly, strategically, and with the humans who’ll actually use it.
That idea — approach over hype — is exactly where Brock Bingham picks up the conversation. In a recent sit-down with PDQ CEO Dan Cook, Brock unpacked how to move beyond pilot paralysis and make AI part of your team’s real workflow.
Brock’s conversation with Dan Cook touches on the mindset shift needed to make AI useful. It’s not about replacing people with robots. It’s about giving your team better tools to do what they already do — just faster, smarter, and with fewer headaches.
A few of the highlights:
Hype ≠ progress: Real value comes from steady, thoughtful integration — not FOMO.
Structure first, freedom next: Clear guidelines and security guardrails set the stage for team-level experimentation.
Team-level ownership over top-down mandates: The best results come from the folks closest to the work.
What we’re seeing at PDQ
At PDQ, the AI wins are happening where they matter most to directly benefit customers:
Support: Fewer repetitive tasks means more time for real conversations with customers (you know, the kind that actually help).
Engineering: With faster testing and less documentation wrangling, the team has more energy to work on features that move the product forward.
Product & UX: Prototypes spin up in hours, not days, so we can show, tweak, and ship based on real feedback, not guesswork.
These aren’t wild moonshots — they’re real, daily improvements. And they’re only possible because we’ve made AI part of the conversation, not just a checkbox on a roadmap.
Want the full story?
Brock’s full post dives deeper into:
Why AI should amplify, not replace
How to think about timing and hype
What thoughtful AI adoption looks like inside a growing company
Read it now on LinkedIn (and bring your own robot jokes).
