$10M/Year on AI — And Most of It Still Funds Applause, Not Outcomes

Engineering the Intelligent Enterprise · Feb 21, 2026 · 39m

The average enterprise AI budget in 2025 is $10 million.

The money's finally moving — permanent budgets, 11x more models in production, GenAI spend shifting from "experimental" to "infrastructure."

But inside individual companies, the gap between leaders and laggards is becoming a canyon.

Most C-suites still run AI like a science fair with executive judges.

Your innovation lab might have the same ROI as a gym membership — technically active, functionally decorative.

In this episode, we unpack the one question separating companies that recover millions from those running 14 beautiful pilots…