When is the right time to dump an AI project?

While it’s important to have metrics, IT and business leaders also shouldn’t be too tied to hitting exact goals, Sengupta adds. In some cases, the original goal is too grandiose or isn’t really what the business needs.

“You’re basically imagining what you might want, and you say, ‘Well, if you give me a flying car, I’m going to love it,’” he says. “And then, six months later, somebody comes in with a car that doesn’t quite fly, and you’re like, ‘Well, that’s not what I wanted.’ But that actually wasn’t what you needed; you actually needed a faster boat.”

Six- to nine-month AI pilot projects can be dangerous, he adds. “If you’re going to dump it, you don’t want to dump it in nine months, because then you get into some sunk cost fallacy where people are going try to really make it work, and they’re putting a lot of effort in.”