Five Things Weekly: Why 80% of Companies Are Getting AI Completely Wrong

Five Things Weekly: Why 80% of Companies Are Getting AI Completely Wrong

A repost from my colleague Ric Richardson’s insightful newsletter. Listen to the podcast here (~7 min).

1. The 80% Are Failing at AI Redesign

A recent survey of 6,000 executives revealed a shocking fact: 80% of companies report zero productivity gains from AI despite billions invested. Only a third of senior leaders even use AI, averaging just 90 minutes a week — barely more than a long lunch break.

Ric points out the real issue: these companies aren’t failing at AI itself, but at redesigning their workflows. They bolt AI onto old processes instead of rethinking from scratch. The right question is not “How do I add AI?” but “What would I build if AI was a given from day one?”

His own team runs a four-agent AI setup that handles everything efficiently — not by adding AI to existing systems, but by building AI-first processes.

2. ByteDance’s Deepfake Problem

ByteDance’s new AI video generator, Seedance 2.0, quickly produced hyper-realistic deepfakes of celebrities like Tom Cruise and Brad Pitt, prompting legal action from Hollywood studios.

Ric highlights the recurring pattern: tech companies release first, add safeguards later. Instead of fighting every new fake, he suggests focusing on proving what’s real through digital provenance and verified content credentials.

3. OpenAI Wants a Cut of Your IP

At Davos, OpenAI’s CFO floated the idea of “value sharing” — if you create something valuable using their AI models, they might want a license to your intellectual property. This shifts AI providers from utilities to strategic investors.

Ric advises creators to consider running AI locally on their own devices to maintain full ownership and avoid sharing stakes with third parties.

4. Australia’s Quiet Battery Revolution

Australia commissioned 4.9 GWh of grid-scale battery storage in 2025 — doubling its total capacity in a single year. This enables better storage of renewable energy, reducing reliance on expensive gas plants and promising more reliable, affordable power for Australians.

5. Words to Sit With

“You never change things by fighting the existing reality. To change something, build a new model that makes the existing model obsolete.”
— Buckminster Fuller

Ric’s takeaway: The companies failing at AI are fighting old models with new tools. The successful ones build new models from scratch. The invitation is clear — stop fixing the old, start building the new.

Learn more about Ric Richardson, the inventor and innovator behind these insights, on his Wikipedia page.