New study: AI spending still hard to tie to quantifiable financial returns

Gary Marcus cites a new study reported by The Information's Laura Bratton, saying it remains "very difficult to find actual, materially measurable financial impact" from AI spending, and that this is yet another study pointing in the same direction. The article also notes the contrast between the scarcity of documented returns and trillions of dollars in investment looks anomalous and puzzling. The conclusion directly affects enterprise technology leaders reporting ROI to management, teams seeking project approval for AI, and finance decision-makers who must explain compute and model spending to investors. The article also cites market signals such as Character.AI filing for bankruptcy and Coreweave bond yields rising to 15% as evidence that credit markets are cooling on AI infrastructure expansion, though the original text does not provide the study's sample, industry scope, or measurement methodology.