February 17, 2026
Hype meets hard numbers
Thousands of CEOs just admitted AI had no impact on employment or productivity
CEOs say AI changed nothing at work; commenters cry hype
TLDR: A big new survey says almost 90% of firms saw no AI-driven gains in jobs or productivity, despite heavy investment and big promises. Commenters blame lazy leadership, forced “use the AI” metrics, and old-school bureaucracy—while a few hold out hope that smarter AI could still deliver later.
CEOs just told researchers that AI hasn’t boosted jobs or output—and the comments went feral. A new study of 6,000 execs says nearly 90% saw no impact on employment or productivity over three years, even though two-thirds “use” AI about 1.5 hours a week. Economists are calling it a Solow Paradox sequel: AI is everywhere—except in the numbers. Meanwhile, Big Tech hype promised moonshots and MIT once touted 40% performance jumps, but the macro data still shrugs.
Commenters? They’re roasting. One crowd says the problem isn’t AI, it’s bosses who don’t use it—DaedalusII claims Fortune 500 leaders are too lazy to try tools like Microsoft Copilot. Another crowd says the rollouts feel like a KPI cosplay, with bubblewand admitting their company nudged staff to keep AI usage numbers up “or have a bad time,” predicting a six-month “whoops, that was a waste of money.” Techies like Herring blame the human bottleneck: companies are like slow, glitchy servers—too many meetings, not enough real workflow change. Others, like tehjoker, argue the best is yet to come once AI gets real memory and reasoning. And of course, virgildotcodes dropped an archive link as receipts. The vibe: Hype hangover meets office politics, and everyone’s got jokes about being “I/O-bound” by calendar invites.
Key Points
- •An NBER study of 6,000 executives reports nearly 90% of firms saw no AI impact on employment or productivity over the past three years.
- •About two-thirds of surveyed executives use AI, averaging 1.5 hours per week; 25% report no workplace AI use.
- •Executives expect AI to increase productivity by 1.4% and output by 0.8% over the next three years; firms foresee a 0.7% employment reduction, while employees anticipate a 0.5% increase.
- •A Financial Times analysis found 374 S&P 500 companies mentioned AI in earnings calls (late 2024–2025), but macro productivity gains remain limited.
- •Evidence is mixed: the St. Louis Fed links generative AI (ChatGPT) to 1.9% excess productivity growth, while a 2024 MIT study projects a 0.5% productivity increase over the next decade.