The Year AI Got Real: Lessons From 2025, Plans For 2026
ET Insights, Monday, December 29th, 2025
2025 was a year of AI in real terms, as this was the year a significant portion of the industry stopped just talking about AI and started using it to run their businesses.
The numbers don't lie - McKinsey's latest State of AI report confirms this, finding that 65% of organizations are now using generative AI regularly in at least one business function, up from just 33% the previous year.
Of course, that's when the industry hit a wall. Organizations found out quickly that they had issues with ethics, governance, and automations that weren't nearly as smart as initially thought. In fact, that same McKinsey report highlights that inaccuracy is one of the biggest risks of generative AI that has stalled initial deployments.