26%
of surveyed companies were already generating value from AI
A 2024 survey of 1,000 executives in 59 countries: 74% had yet to demonstrate tangible value from AI. 22% were starting to realise value and 4% already generated substantial value. This classifies companies by AI maturity; it is not a success rate for individual pilots. I do not use the more widely quoted "95% of AI pilots fail" (MIT NANDA, 2025) as a current statistic: that figure counts non-adopters as failures and its method was never released.
14%
average productivity gain with an AI assistant
Measured across roughly 5,000 customer support agents at a Fortune 500 software company. The least experienced workers gained 35%; top performers close to nothing. AI mostly lifts the floor.
r = −0.68
correlation between frequent AI use and critical thinking
Gerlich found a strong negative association among 666 participants, mediated by cognitive offloading: the more often you outsource the thinking, the less you train the skill. It remains a correlation; cause and effect are not established.
74.4%
of Dutch SMEs have integrated AI into their operations
That puts the Netherlands ahead of the rest of Europe. The same research warns that this fast growth raises the risk of uncontrolled use.
±70%
of the European cloud market is held by three American hyperscalers
Amazon, Microsoft and Google combined. Relevant for every sovereignty debate: the infrastructure profits of the AI wave largely land outside Europe, however high Dutch adoption gets.
€35M / 7%
maximum fine under the EU AI Act
For prohibited AI practices: up to €35 million or 7% of global annual turnover, whichever is higher. SMEs and start-ups face proportionally lower fines. Deadlines and risk tiers are on my EU AI Act page.
Every number links to its original source. Quote freely, with the source.
Frequently asked
What is the ROI of AI automation?
There is no reliable average ROI percentage. What has been measured: an AI assistant made customer support agents 14% more productive on average, the least experienced 35% (NBER). At the same time, 74% of companies had yet to show tangible value from AI in 2024 (BCG, 1,000 executives). The gain per task is measurable; it only shows up in results once the application runs in production.
What is the success rate of AI projects?
There is no reliable success rate per project. The closest number measures companies: in 2024, 22% were realising value from AI and 4% substantial value, 26% in total (BCG, 1,000 executives in 59 countries). That describes how far companies are, not how many individual pilots succeed.
What the numbers say together
These studies measure different things at other companies, so none of them predicts what your project will deliver. Fix one number before the pilot, such as lead time per request, and measure it again after go-live.
Want to know where your AI work stands?
In the Scan I put your pilots next to these numbers: ROI potential, production risk and a verdict per pilot. One week, fixed price from €1,995 ex VAT.
30 minutes · free, no obligation