{
  "id": 8920485,
  "title": "AI Is Expensive. Failing to Adapt Will Cost More | Opinion",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/09/21/ai-is-expensive-failing-to-adapt-will-cost-more-opinion",
  "topic": "ai",
  "section": "AI",
  "published": "2026-09-21T12:20:50.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "Newsweek",
    "slug": "newsweek",
    "url": "https://www.newsweek.com/ai-investment-business-adaptation-cost-12466420"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "The cost of adopting artificial intelligence (AI) is often cited as evidence of its failure to be cost-effective. However, this perspective overlooks the transformative potential AI holds for reshaping work processes. The true danger lies not in spending too much upfront, but in resisting change while others adapt. History has shown that those who embrace the transition, like Amazon, ultimately gain a competitive edge. Companies are already experiencing the impact of AI, with major tech firms committing billions to AI infrastructure and over 142,000 tech jobs eliminated in the first five months of 2026. This raises questions about whether companies are cutting jobs due to AI's ability to perform tasks or due to a belief in AI's future capabilities.\n\nThe concern is real for workers who fear job displacement and young professionals worried about the future of career progression. While these concerns are valid, it is crucial to approach AI investment intelligently and support workers through the transition. AI excels at routine tasks, research, drafting, summarizing, and administrative processes, but struggles with decisions in a volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous (VUCA) environment. Businesses must use AI to handle repetitive work, allowing humans to focus on judgment, innovation, customer relationships, and problem-solving. Only then can AI truly build capacity.\n\nCurrent data shows that only 7% of leaders report established AI return on investment (ROI), but those with CEO accountability for AI-informed decisions report a higher 14% ROI, compared to 4% among those without such accountability. Leaders with strong cost visibility are five times more likely to report ROI. This emphasizes the need for ownership, measurement, and discipline in AI investment, extending to education. Students should acquire specialized skills, adaptability, critical thinking, judgment, and the ability to work alongside AI. Employers must rethink entry-level roles as training grounds for uniquely human capabilities rather than disposable labor.\n\nIndividuals must also adapt by learning AI tools, understanding their industry, and developing human skills such as trust, persuasion, creativity, leadership, and judgment under uncertainty. Business leaders must view AI as a new workforce member and define its responsibilities. Training should be provided to maximize AI's potential while ensuring humans remain accountable for consequential decisions. By investing in AI, people, and measuring results, organizations can achieve lower routine costs, faster learning, stronger customer relationships, more productive workers, and overall productivity. Refusal to invest will lead to hollowed-out talent pipelines, frightened workers, expensive systems without trust, and companies that discover too late AI cannot replace institutional knowledge. The companies that transition successfully will shape the future, while those that resist will ultimately lose out.",
  "summary": "Keep humans in the foreground, and put AI in the background where it can build capacity, argues Raymond Sheen.",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}