CEOs are being left baffled at the high cost of moving to AI — shockingly enough, sacking human workers isn't resulting in huge savings

CEOs are being left baffled at the high cost of moving to AI — shockingly enough, sacking human workers isn't resulting in huge savings News By Mike Moore Published July 9, 2026 COMPANIES ARE LEARNING ME VERY HARD LESSON THAT ACTIONS HAVE CONSEQUENCES. YES, WE HAVE SEEN 75% TO 88% OF COMPANIES ADOPT AI AND ROUGHLY 50% LAID OFF A BUNCH OF WORKERS HAVE TO HIRE BECAUSE IT TURNS OUT AI REALLY DOESN'T WORK THAT WELL. KPMG Key highlights 76% 78% 71% 76% now see real business value from AI, a 12-point jump in one quarter. 78% are confident they can future-proof their AI strategy. (up 8 points from Q1). 71% of organizations say they are making good progress toward a fully integrated AI-human workforce (up 11 points from Q1). I MEAN, ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE IS THE NEXT BIG THING. IT'S BEEN WIDELY ADOPTED AND UNFORTUNATELY IT'S PART OF ALL OF OUR LIVES. IF YOU EVER USE GOOGLE, UNFORTUNATELY YOU ARE USING AI. DOUBLE CHECK THOSE ANSWERS BECAUSE THEY CAN BE VERY WRONG. THERE IS A LOT OF CONVERSATION COMPANIES ADOPTED AI QUITE SO QUICKLY, EVEN BEFORE IT DEMONSTRATED ITSELF TO BE USEFUL. AND PART OF FOR SHAREHOLDERS. LOOK, WE ARE FIRING PEOPLE, WE'RE REDUCING COST AND HIRING AI FOR US. UNFORTUNATELY, THAT ALSO WE ALSO HAVE A LABOUR CRISIS. IT'S NOT REALLY THAT WE DON'T TO TAKE THESE JOBS, IS THAT WE DON'T SKILLED LABOURERS TO TAKE THE NEED THEM TO DO. NEED THEM TO DO. AS ALWAYS, BLUE COLLAR JOBS REMAIN VERY USEFUL. HOWEVER, WHEN IT COMES TO CUSTOMER SERVICE, IT IS LARGELY BEING REPLACED BY AI PROBABLY SEEN IT. A CUSTOMER SERVICE BOT. I ACTUALLY REALLY HATE DOING SO. I WILL FIND YOU AUDIBLY GROWN A CUSTOMER SERVICE ROBOT. BUT IT SEEMS ALARMINGLY COMMON THESE DAYS. BUT YOU CAN REST PEACEFULLY KNOWING, HELP AND PEOPLE HIRED BACK. IT DOES SEEM VERY LIKELY THAT AI IS A BUBBLE. IT'S VERY SIMILAR COM BUBBLE AND THAT WILL EVENTUALLY BURST HAVE FINANCIAL CONSEQUENCES FOR A LOT INCLUDING COMPANIES THAT HAVE INTEGRATED AI SO DEEPLY INTO THEIR WORK SYSTEM AND IT COST MORE THAN THEY EXPECTED, GOING TO HAVE TO PAY TO REPLACE IT. TO CONTINUE TO EXIST. COURSE, SEEING 50% OF ALL BUSINESS VENTURES USE AI AS THEIR PLATFORM END UP FAILING. WE CAN'T HAVE ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE IS 75% OF OUR GDP GROWTH AND STILL FAILING TO PROVIDE REAL VALUE. I DO LIKE THE TECHNOLOGY AND HAS SOME VERY REAL BENEFITS. IT DOES INCREDIBLY WELL, LIKE FINDING PATTERNS THAT FANTASTIC. HOWEVER, WHEN IT COMES TO CUSTOMER SERVICE AND REPLACING PEOPLE, NOT DEMONSTRATED VALUE.