Asked how he’s sure that AI isn’t overhyped, Garman said, “People ask me that all the time. I think it’s like one of the funnier questions I get.” He proceeded to ask people in the audience to raise their hands if they’re seeing positive ROI now from their AI investments or if they expect to see it within six months.

The audience complied and Garman estimated about 70 percent of audience members had raised their hands.

It would be remarkable if such a large portion of attendees had actual knowledge of AI costs and returns in their company. If you ask this reporter, it was a smaller percentage than that.