A recent survey by PwC reveals that a significant 56% of CEOs believe artificial intelligence has not generated meaningful revenue growth or cost savings over the past year. The survey, which included over 4,400 executives from 105 countries, highlights that while 30% of leaders reported higher revenues and about 26% observed reduced costs, only one in eight can cite both benefits. According to PwC Global Chairman Mohamed Kande, many organizations struggle to effectively integrate AI due to data quality issues and legacy systems, leaving them in what he describes as “experimentation purgatory.” Successful companies are not just adopting AI; they are fundamentally redesigning their operations to embed AI into core workflows, ensuring alignment with tangible business outcomes.
AI bots are increasingly becoming a significant source of web traffic, with a new report indicating that they accounted for one out of every 50 visits to certain websites in the fourth quarter of 2025, up from one in 200 just a few months earlier. This surge is accompanied by a 400 percent increase in the number of bots bypassing website defenses meant to limit their access, suggesting a growing sophistication in web-scraping techniques. According to Toshit Pangrahi, cofounder of TollBit, which tracks web-scraping activity, the future of the internet may see a majority of traffic coming from bots, underscoring a potential shift in how online content is consumed and utilized.
Why do we care?
We have two data points that tell the same story from opposite angles.
PwC found that the majority of CEOs have seen zero revenue growth and zero cost savings from AI in the past twelve months. Only one in eight can point to both benefits. Calling it “experimentation purgatory” is a polite way of saying: you bought the hype, you didn’t do the work, and now you’re stuck.
And while enterprises are failing to extract value from AI, AI is successfully extracting value from them. TollBit’s data shows bot traffic increased sixfold over 2025—one AI bot visit for every thirty-one human visits, up from one in two hundred.
Connect these dots: Clients are paying for AI tools that aren’t delivering returns while simultaneously paying for infrastructure that serves AI scrapers harvesting their content. They’re losing on both ends of the transaction.
Both failures come from the same root cause: no operational discipline.
If you’re an leading with “AI-powered solutions,” you’re contributing to the fifty-six percent. You’re setting clients up for experimentation purgatory. The PwC data is a gift—use it. Walk into client conversations with: “Most CEOs report no AI returns. Here’s why, and here’s what we do differently.” The winning MSP offer here isn’t ‘AI-powered.’ It’s AI readiness, AI control, and AI cost accountability — productized, repeatable, and priced as ongoing responsibility.
And while you’re having that conversation, ask them: “Do you know what percentage of your web traffic is AI bots? Do you know what that’s costing you?” Because the answer is almost certainly “no” and “more than you think.”
The next phase isn’t more AI spending — it’s scrutiny. CFOs aren’t doubling down on tools that didn’t pay off. They’re freezing budgets, demanding proof, and reallocating dollars toward governance, risk control, and cost containment.