"Got AI?"

By now, every salesperson for every technology firm is probably being asked “do you have AI” by prospects. And most answers, in most cases, will require the salesperson to ask a further question: “what is your use case?” 

Because right now, most technology buyers are likely reacting to the hype and “FOMO” (Fear of Missing Out). The pressure for businesses to "do something with AI" is going to lead to many deployments that fail to deliver the expected results, as often is the case for new technology. 

Of course, the other typical pressures also exist. Vendors and consultants suggesting AI as a “must-have” will drive such buyer requests. 

But firms might also be engaging in “innovation signaling;” trying to appear innovative to investors, customers, or partners by touting AI initiatives, regardless of substantive application.

Study/Source	Technology	Key Findings on Adoption Behavior	Use Case Clarity
McKinsey Global Survey on AI (2025)	AI, GenAI	Rapid AI adoption; many orgs use AI in multiple functions; limited enterprise-wide impact	Often unclear; many deployments exploratory
IBM AI Business Use Cases (2024)	AI	Lists productive AI use cases; highlights need for business alignment	Stresses importance of defined use cases
NBER Working Paper: Adoption of New Technology	ATMs, Telecom, etc.	Adoption driven by scale, network effects, and competitive pressure	Use cases often emerge post-adoption
Technology Adoption Lifecycle Model	General	Early adoption often driven by hype, FOMO, and signaling	Use case clarity increases over time
Forbes: AI as Fastest Adopted Tech (2023)	AI	AI adoption outpaces previous technologies; driven by hype	Use case definition lags adoption
Harvard Baker Library: Tech Adoption & Economies	Multiple	Adoption lags, driven by economic and social factors	Use cases sometimes secondary

Essentially, the “wasted effort and capital investment” happens because it typically takes some time and experience, plus business process change, before any important new technology can produce measurable outcomes. 

Study Name / Article	Date	Publisher	Key Conclusions
The Gartner Hype Cycle Approach: Understanding the Technology Adoption	2023-12-16	LinkedIn / Gartner	Outlines five phases: innovation trigger, peak of inflated expectations (hype/FOMO), trough of disillusionment, slope of enlightenment, plateau of productivity where useful applications emerge3.
The Role of FOMO in Digital Transformation	2021-01-27	MIT Press: Harvard Data Science Rev.	FOMO drives rapid, sometimes poorly planned digital adoption; over 70% of digital projects fail to deliver intended impact; useful applications emerge only with strategic alignment and learning6.
Technology Adoption Lifecycle - from hype to reality	2022-02-08	THE WAVES	Adoption often starts with hype or fear of missing out, followed by a crash in expectations, and eventually stabilizes as practical, value-driven uses are found7.
Technology Adoption Life Cycle-redefined	2023-12-06	THE WAVES	Adoption unfolds in stages among different user groups; initial hype/FOMO is replaced by economic justification and practical applications as technology matures2.
The Role of Fear of Missing Out and Experience in the Formation of ...	2022	ScienceDirect	FOMO is a significant driver of early technology adoption, but prior experience helps organizations move from hype to rational, use-case-driven adoption1.
Technology Adoption: Escaping the Hype to Maximize Decision ...	2023-01-12	HG Insights	The Hype Cycle model helps organizations distinguish between hype and real business value, guiding them toward effective, use-case-driven adoption8.

AI is not going to be much different, in that regard.