Kirsten Osolind, Duke MBA on linkedin

tgroenwals shared this post · 3d ago

▶️ The AI ROI Fallacy: Unmeasured Infrastructure in Turnaround Assets

David's Bridal recently claimed asking for AI ROI is "the wrong question" because AI is now "infrastructure."

For a legacy retail brand fresh out of multiple bankruptcies, that should set off alarms for their board and private equity sponsors.

Infrastructure still consumes capital. Capital has a cost. Warehouses, ERP upgrades, data platforms, and governance programs all require a business case. AI doesn't get a pass.

CION Investments didn't rescue a distressed retail asset so management could relabel unmeasured AI spend as "infrastructure."

This is the same logic inflating the AI CapEx bubble across the tech sector: spend first, narrate later, then act offended when someone asks where the return shows up.

AI investments need capital discipline, reliability controls, data governance, adoption architecture, EBITDA impact, and measurable value realization.

Private equity investors and boards can't afford to accept "it's infrastructure" as an excuse for unmeasured capital allocation.

Link to the full article below: The AI ROI Fallacy: Unmeasured Infrastructure in Turnaround Assets

#PrivateEquity #AIGovernance #CapitalEfficiency #TurnaroundStrategy #EnterpriseAI #RetailStrategy #CorporateGovernance

c: 🏷 Ricardo Belmar, Walter Holbrook, Neil Saunders, Javier E. David, Amanda Chin, Barbara Kahn, Kim Bhasin

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Clark Schnase Exactly. Calling AI “infrastructure” should raise the proof bar, not lower it. Infrastructure still has utilization assumptions, operating costs, control requirements, and a capital allocation thesis. Boards do not need a perfect ROI forecast, but they do need a defensible evidence model for why continued funding is rational. May 28 1 like

Patrick Moran, MBA, CISSP Spot on. What we're still seeing is a lot of subjective AI technologies and people struggling to quantify their business value. Labeling AI as infrastructure is lazy. If you can't tie an AI technology to economic value, it's a hobby not a budget line. May 13 2 likes