Corporate America’s AI Reckoning

MIT and CFO Magazine report that 95% of corporate generative AI pilots are failing, and The New York Times has shown that promised payoffs are lagging across industries. ELI's analysis of 148,000 U.S. C-suite executives at the largest companies reveals why. Two dominant tribes—High Rollers and Gen AI Experimenters—account for most of today's costly failures, gambling on pilots without structure or scaling at unsustainable speed. But three smaller tribes—Incrementalists, Realists, and Transformers—are charting a steadier path forward. Their behaviors are likely to become the standard of enterprise AI over the next several years, defining which companies emerge as winners and which remain stuck in perpetual pilot mode.

‍

ELI's Crystal Ball—5 Predictions for corporate AI strategy from Sooth's Emotional Logic Interface:

1. 2026 will be the year of corporate AI reform in the U.S. Stakeholders and shareholders will grow more skeptical of AI investments, pilot burnout will peak, and enterprises will be forced to overhaul how they prioritize and govern AI.
2. 2027 will deliver the first wave of measurable AI transformations: A small minority or corporations will integrate AI into core operations and show durable ROI, creating the first true market leaders.
3. 2027 will also see the end of efficiency-first AI: Companies clinging to cost-saving pilots will see projects cut or abandoned, as shareholders demand strategies that also increase customer value.
4. AI Governance will become a barometer of corporate trust: Ethics and compliance frameworks will be mandatory for market participation, turning culture and policy into competitive levers.
5. By 2030, successful AI adoption will be table stakes for U.S. businesses: A minority of scaled enterprises will emerge as winners; while laggards will see a sustained decline in growth and profits.

‍

Corporate America's Five AI MindTribes:

High Rollers (13%)—Gambling without guardrails

Executives who treat AI like a high-risk/high-reward bet, experimenting aggressively but often with insufficient structure or support.

Gen AI Experimenters (29%)—Piloting at scale; burning through resources

The largest cluster, leaning into generative pilots: ambitious, curious, and absorbing the highest failure costs.

Incrementalists (21%)—Step-by-step efficiency seekers

Leaaders who frame AI adoption through operaitonal efficiency and step-by-step gains, cautious but steady.

Realists (19%)—Cautious skeptics throttling AI adoption and experimentation

Executives filtering AI decisions through political, ethical, and reputational concerns as pressure builds.

Transformers (17%)—Balancing innovation and durability

Leaders who integrate AI into core operations and culture, building durable systems for growth instead of pilots.

‍

About Sooth & ELI

Sooth is the predictive intelligence company decoding the 93% of human decisions driven by emotional, practical, and situational needs. Powered by ELI — Sooth’s exclusive Emotional Logic Interface — Sooth uncovers hidden signals, turning audience behavior into predictive foresight. Sooth’s patent-pending methodology uses artificial intelligence to cross-reference more than 100 million intent signals with data on 300 million individuals worldwide to predict buyer tendencies with 91% predictive accuracy. For more information, visit soothbetold.com and eliwashere.ai.

‍