Issue #78: What’s Really Holding Back Your AI Strategy
Howdy 👋🏾.
Reality and possibility couldn’t be more different. Every week, I hear it:
- “Our AI chatbot sucks.”
- “Customers hate it.”
- “Employees will never use it.”
- “It can’t answer real questions.”
Of course it can’t.
There’s been a rush driven by board pressure and CEO mandates to do something with AI. Most of it? Garbage. And it’s no surprise. AI was never a magic pill for bad data, ancient infrastructure, or a decade of ignored technical debt. Slapping a chatbot on top of a mess doesn’t solve the mess.
The tide is turning. Users are frustrated, execs are disappointed, and the teams behind these deployments are left drained and wondering where it went wrong. Because AI is not the product. Readiness is. If you haven’t done the work integrating systems, cleaning up data, and training your people, it’s not just that AI will underdeliver. It might actively make things worse.
IBM’s latest study said it best:
- Only 25% of AI projects have delivered the ROI they promised
- Just 16% of companies have managed to scale AI across their organization
- Still, 61% of CEOs are moving full speed ahead — even though 64% admit they don’t fully understand what they’re investing in
This happens when FOMO (fear of missing out) replaces actual strategy. So let’s talk about what I’ve been building:
📕 My new book, The AI Evolution, is available for preorder.
I handed out early first-edition copies at Philly Tech Week, but now it’s available to order. You can grab a first edition directly from my site today. It hits Amazon and other retailers by June 12. Preorder here.
📣 PerryLabs is now live.
PerryLabs is a lab and a studio, built with AI at its core. We help people use AI strategically, creatively, and responsibly. It’s where experiments become products, and ideas drive real impact. Follow us on LinkedIn and visit our website to learn more.
📌 The $25K AI Accelerator.
This is for businesses ready to move fast and get real. Not just about tools, but it’s about readiness from data and infrastructure to team culture. We’ll help you design an actual AI strategy that works.
I talk to the people who work for you. They’re trying. They’re exploring tools. They’re making things happen on their own. But the truth is, they don’t always know what they don’t know.
If your organization hasn’t rolled out AI training, if AI governance isn’t on the roadmap, if you treat ChatGPT like a toy instead of a tool, let’s be honest… you’re not ready. AI training should be just as standard as phishing training.
I always say, today’s AI is the worst AI you’ll ever use. We’re in the AOL days of AI. It’s slow. It’s misunderstood. But this is the window. Today is where you build something that couldn’t exist before. Today is where you rethink what was, and imagine what’s next.
If that sounds like your kind of work, grab the book. Also, be sure to leave a review!
– jason
Bye SEO, Hello AEO
SEO isn’t dead, but the game is changing. As users turn to tools like ChatGPT and Perplexity instead of Google, the future lies in Answer Engine Optimization (AEO). It’s no longer about keywords, it’s about visibility in AI-generated answers. If your content isn’t being picked up by these tools, you’re invisible. I’m breaking down the signs of change, what it means for your business, and how to start adapting now.
The Best in Tech This Week
🔍 Google puts AI front and center on Search homepage – Google’s business is facing fundamental pressure. It’s easy to forget, with products like Gmail and Google Docs, that Google is primarily an advertising company, and Search is the crown jewel. It’s going to be interesting to watch them edge closer to AI while finding ways to protect that ad revenue.
⚖️ Republicans push federal ban on state AI regulation – In The AI Evolution, I talked about how state-by-state regulation was inevitable in the absence of federal rules. But I didn’t see this coming. A 10-year ban on state-level AI laws?
🤖 Amazon offers a peek at new human jobs in an AI-bot world – One thing often forgotten in the AI race: its impact on robotics. The investment here has been building for years. If I’m placing bets, vocational robotics is a smart one.
🎤 The AI Roadshow: Workshops, Talks & Beyond
May 19-22, 2025 – Microsoft Build
June 3, 2025 – University of Baltimore AI Summit
June 5, 2025 – AI Advantage: Building, Integrating & Scaling AI for your Business
June 24, 2025 – WTCI AGILE: Building Earth’s Future From Space
🔬 Inside the Lab: What’s new at PerryLabs
If you’re thinking about AI, it’s time to make it real. The PerryLabs AI Accelerator is a fast, focused 2–4 week engagement built to take you from idea to impact, no fluff, just results.
We’ll help you pinpoint where AI can drive the most value, mapping your systems, analyzing your data, and targeting the processes primed for automation.
✅ Fixed-fee, fast-track (starts at $25K)
✅ Includes stakeholder interviews, process deep dives & data review
✅ Perfect for ops, product, finance, and strategy leaders ready to move
Let’s accelerate: perrylabs.io | contact@perrylabs.io
P.S. Ants Love Sonos Play: 1
I just got back from a round trip to move my daughter out of her dorm, which meant a full catch-up on my podcast backlog. One that’s still rattling around in my head: the Sonos Play:1 is perfectly designed for a certain kind of ant. So much so that entire Reddit threads and forums are filled with people wondering why ants have colonized their speakers. Wild. Worth the listen: