AI hype meets the ROI test
Marketing is about to cut a third of its AI projects.
If you work in employer branding or talent, you will need to start paying attention.
Forrester’s 2027 predictions came out recently, and some of the numbers are worth noticing. Rising AI costs will push B2C marketing leaders to scale back a third of their AI initiatives (are we hearing AI pilots being rolled back?). With usage-based pricing, every agent interaction and every generated asset cost are all adding up in a bill.
But the bigger signal for me sits underneath.
82% of US B2C marketing executives expect to justify future AI investments more strongly.
78% say leadership now wants stronger evidence of value than it did a year ago.
The trustworthy blank cheque is nearing a close.
If we turn this lens on the talent side of the house. Korn Ferry’s Talent Acquisition Trends 2026 report found that:
* 84% of talent leaders planned to use AI this year.
* 52% planned to add autonomous AI agents to their teams.
* Only 22% believed their leaders could manage teams of humans and AI agents together.
Over the years I have sat in many budget conversations. I have watched tools get bought with excitement and renewed on habit.
But the question worth pondering is... When the CFO asks what our AI tools actually delivered, "We are using AI” won’t be enough anymore. There will be more questions about:
*Did it improve your quality of hire?
*If it shortened the time to offer for the roles that matter most?
*Are you candidates trusting the experience more now or lesser?
Marketing is getting its reality check; our teams wouldn’t be behind. I would recommend that employer branding and talent teams be prepared for ours now rather than figuring out how to defend it later.
I would be keen to hear which AI took in your talent stack that is doing so far and what evidence you have to defend it today. Please share in the comments.
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