The AI industry is shifting its center of gravity from hype to tangible value creation, starting in 2026. TechCrunch reports that companies must now demonstrate concrete ROI instead of just promising future potential. As investor expectations adjust to realistic levels, the entire market is being reshaped.
Several critical factors are driving this change. First, the skyrocketing costs of training large language models have eliminated reckless investment. MIT Technology Review notes that companies are switching from general-purpose models to smaller models optimized for specific industries. In manufacturing, defect detection accuracy has exceeded 98%, and in healthcare, image reading time has been reduced by 70%. The financial sector has also tripled processing speed by automating loan approvals. Now, companies are focusing on ‘what problems to solve’ rather than ‘what AI to use.’ On-device AI is rapidly emerging to reduce cloud costs, and local processing is becoming the standard due to stricter privacy regulations.
In the future, the AI market will be evaluated based on measurable results, not flashy demos. Microsoft predicts that more than 50% of companies adopting AI will present clear cost reduction metrics from the second half of 2026. As AI evolves beyond simple automation to decision support systems, human-AI collaboration models will emerge as a key competitive advantage. We’ve entered an era where the application method, rather than the technology itself, determines success.
Frequently Asked Questions
Q: Why has AI hype decreased?
A: Investors are demanding proof of actual returns, and reckless investment has decreased as training costs have soared. Companies have now shifted their development direction to focus on verifiable results.
Q: What are the key features of practicality-focused AI?
A: It uses smaller models optimized for specific industries instead of general-purpose models and adopts on-device processing to reduce cloud dependency. Setting clear, ROI-measurable goals is essential.
Q: Which industries are seeing the most significant changes?
A: Quantitative results have appeared in manufacturing defect detection, medical image reading, and financial loan approval automation. It is spreading from areas where cost reduction and processing speed improvements have been proven.