AI vendors are invoicing today for breakthroughs that don't exist yet
DavidLinthicum · x · 2026-10-18
Cloud/AI architect David Linthicum critiques the AI industry's overpromising: vendors are selling future capabilities as if they already work in production, across briefings, boardrooms, and very confident slide decks.
He stresses AI itself, its progress, and its potential are real — but so is the exaggeration. A demo that looks magical on stage can become a production system that hallucinates, leaks context, fails audits, burns budget, or requires "a small village of consultants" to keep upright. Somewhere between "this is promising" and "this will replace your entire department by Q3," the industry lost its adult supervision — with investor incentives rewarding enormous visions as a key driver.
Related event: Analyst blasts AI industry for overselling unproven capabilities(3 posts)→
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