Amy Webb Warns of Corporate AI Spending Bust by 2027 as 90% of Firms Raise Budgets
Updated
Updated · Fortune · Aug 30
Amy Webb Warns of Corporate AI Spending Bust by 2027 as 90% of Firms Raise Budgets
1 articles · Updated · Fortune · Aug 30
Summary
Webb said a reckoning in enterprise AI spending could start as early as next year, with many companies unlikely to show measurable gains within the next two quarters.
Her warning centers on “pilot purgatory”: firms keep launching generative AI tests that never scale because legal, IT and workflow integration are missing, forcing teams to restart from zero and compound costs.
Bain’s June survey of 951 global companies supports the gap—nearly 40% of those tracking AI savings saw returns below 10% despite targeting 11% to 20%, yet 90% still planned bigger AI budgets.
Webb said AI also floods managers with low-cost output—such as “insta-decks” arriving five times faster—while few CEOs can say where even 10% freed capacity would be redeployed.
She argues the risk is broader than a normal tech bubble: boards are under pressure to adopt tools they do not fully understand, raising the chance of economy-wide misallocation rather than just a market selloff.