Is It Time for Everyone to Become AI Power Users?
Recent discussions at the AI Finance Leader Forum suggest a meaningful wave of investment in artificial intelligence is on the horizon, especially within the financial sector. Nvidia recently engaged with over 1,000 financial institutions globally and found that these firms already have AI plans in place for 2026. According to Aser Blanco of Nvidia, these institutions plan to invest 10% or more in AI, with growth in AI investment expected to exceed 10%. Nearly half indicated they could perhaps spend even more.
The conversation, featuring Blanco alongside Moiz Kohari and Gary Arora, highlighted the diverse applications of AI beyond the currently popular “agentic AI.” Kohari pointed to the value of predictive AI in financial markets and the power of natural language processing to extract insights from unstructured data.
Despite the enthusiasm, a recent MIT study raised concerns, asserting that the majority of companies launching AI pilots haven’t seen a return on investment. However, arora wasn’t discouraged by these findings. “The fascinating aspect is trying to understand why 95% of the companies are getting zero returns on their pilots. Once you can uncover that, you really understand what’s going on,” he stated.
Arora contextualized the pilot failure rate, noting that 90% of all startups fail and 70% of change management initiatives also fall short. He attributed the lack of ROI not to the technology itself, but to organizational unpreparedness for scaling AI solutions beyond the pilot phase.”The reason why a lot of the pilots are failing is not because the technology’s not there, but it’s because the association isn’t ready to scale the technology that’s been used in those pilots,” he explained.
These insights suggest that while the potential of AI is considerable - and investment is rapidly increasing – realizing its benefits requires more than just adopting the technology; it demands organizational readiness and a strategic approach to implementation.
