Big tech lost hundreds of billions in market value in late July, and investors have grown skeptical of AI's returns. Business leaders across industries are now asking the same question: what has AI spending actually delivered?
A recent Forbes article gathered perspectives from technology and business leaders on how companies should respond to that scrutiny. Paxxon Brown, Strategic Growth Partner at Nisum, shared his thoughts on why the problem was never AI spending in the first place.
"There's no value in eliminating AI initiatives; chasing AI isn't the value," Brown said. "The value remains in the outcomes we can create — every investment has to tie to an accountable business result."
Adoption Isn't the Goal — the Business Result Is
Much of the current anxiety around AI ROI comes from treating AI adoption as a box to check. When that's the driver, it's no surprise the returns are hard to find.
The better question isn't whether to keep investing in AI or pull back. It's whether each initiative is tied to a measurable business result. Business leaders need the discipline to evaluate that project by project, even when it's slower than applying one policy across the board. Some initiatives will clear that bar easily. Others won't — and that's fine.
How Nisum Applies This With Clients
This is the lens we bring to how we work with clients: AI evaluation isn't a one-time audit or an annual budget exercise. We build it into the point where a decision is actually being made, or where it benefits the outcome we're solving for.
Rather than applying one blanket AI policy across every project, we question the need for it each time, so any AI investment is serving the problem the client actually wants solved. It's a slower way to work than chasing every new capability, or freezing spending out of caution — but it's the more sustainable one.
What This Means for AI Budgets Going Forward
The market correction on AI spending doesn't have to mean pulling back on AI altogether. For companies that have already been evaluating AI project by project, rather than treating it as a mandate, this is a chance to double down on what's working — and cut what isn't.
