In the news. AI is proving far more expensive than many companies anticipated. As CNBC reports, some Fortune 500 companies are exhausting their annual AI budgets in just one or two months. Much of the problem stems from indiscriminate AI use. For example, “tokenmaxxing”—or using AI wherever possible, no matter the cost—is forcing CFOs to confront a new trade-off: tokens or head count. Experts estimate that roughly 95% of AI workloads still run on premium frontier models. One enterprise AI leader argues that directing simple workloads to lower-cost models could help companies reduce AI expenses by as much as tenfold. [CNBC]

The lesson from first movers is not that every company should try to be first; it is that companies must become better at moving.

On McKinsey.com. Competitive advantage comes less from predicting the future than from disciplined resource reallocation as business changes accelerate with AI. Research by McKinsey’s Laura LaBerge, Matt Banholzer, and their coauthors argues that first movers outperform their peers not because they act fastest but because they secure organizational commitment to act despite uncertainty. They shift capital, talent, and attention based on performance rather than risk aversion or company inertia. The authors’ research identifies five behaviors—including aligning on what matters, placing more small bets, and learning quickly—that can help organizations build resilience while adapting faster than competitors.

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In the news. AI has seen a meteoric rise in nursing, but is it delivering value? According to Healthcare IT News, AI use among registered nurses has nearly tripled over the past year. Yet only 19% report that AI saves them more than an hour of work per week, while almost half say it saves little or no time. Researchers attribute the gap to inconsistent implementation, noting that AI delivers its greatest productivity gains only when combined with a clear strategy, effective deployment, and comprehensive workforce training. [Healthcare IT News]

On McKinsey.com. Healthcare productivity continues to lag behind other services industries despite growing investment in technology—and AI alone won’t reverse the trend. McKinsey experts Li Han, Michael Elliott, Pooja Kumar, and Yenli Wong write that the industry’s next productivity gains will come not from automating existing work but from redesigning operating models around human–AI collaboration. Rather than layering isolated AI tools onto existing processes, organizations should rethink how work is organized by reshaping workflows, workforce roles, and support functions to realize AI’s full productivity potential.

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AI flips the script in film and TV

In the news. AI has brought filmmaking’s next watershed moment to India. Studios are using AI to reduce costs by up to 80%, compress production timelines, dub films into different languages, and even revive older titles, Reuters reports. While the economic case is compelling, the creative one remains unsettled. Projects such as the AI-generated series Mahabharat: Ek Dharmayudh received a rating of 1.4 out of 10 on IMDb, while a rerelease of the 2013 film Raanjhanaa, which used AI to change the original sad ending into a happy one, boosted ticket sales despite criticism from some filmmakers and actors. These examples underscore AI’s revenue potential even as debates over authenticity continue. [Reuters]

On McKinsey.com. AI is undeniably reshaping the economics of filmmaking, but whether it’s making entertainment better is far less clear. McKinsey’s Jamie Vickers and Alec Wrubel outline two potential paths the industry could take. In one, AI is an enabler of mass-produced “AI slop,” further commoditizing the industry and concentrating power into a small number of distributors. In the other, productivity gains are reinvested into new projects, lowering historically high barriers to entry and opening the door to entirely new content formats. Either way, the authors argue, a bottom-up transformation of production pipelines is coming, while skepticism among audiences and creatives about AI-generated content remains.

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