This new research challenges nearly every big AI narrative of 2026

Well, well, well. RBC Capital Markets has crunched the numbers and discovered something truly shocking: companies are spending a lot on AI, and they'd like to spend even more. A full half of respondents claim AI is already 'in production,' which in corporate speak usually means a chatbot that answers three questions before redirecting to a human. The research doesn't mention how many of these deployments are actually useful, but who cares when the spending line goes up?

This is the annual ritual of throwing billions at a technology that can't reliably tell you whether a cat is on a mat, let alone optimise your supply chain. The mantra is 'more half in production,' but production of what? Hype, mainly. The same companies that can't integrate a PDF parser are now confidently telling analysts they're 'all in on AI.' Just ask BlackBerry how well enterprise enthusiasm translates to lasting value.

And the punchline? Everyone is 'willing to spend even more' — presumably on the consultants who will tell them to spend even more next year. The research itself is probably being read by an AI somewhere, generating anodyne bullet points for a deck that will be presented to a board that nodded off five minutes ago. It's not a spending spree; it's a race to the bottom of the corporate budget, and RBC is handing out the running shoes.