CNBC’s Jim Cramer said Wednesday that it’s time for companies to prove artificial intelligence is paying off.
“I need cold hard return facts,” the “Mad Money” host said. “Or, I, too, will grow more skeptical than I am now.”
The AI boom has fueled massive spending by technology companies, and there’s no end in sight. Analysts estimate total AI capital expenditures could climb above $1 trillion in 2027. While Cramer said he remains optimistic about the long-term opportunity, he argued the market needs more evidence that those investments are translating into measurable financial returns for customers.
Cramer said one of his biggest concerns this earnings season is that companies adopting AI have largely failed to point to meaningful revenue gains or cost savings from the technology.
“We’re still early in the earnings season but already we are not hearing anything material about the use of AI,” he said.
Banks, in particular, have disappointed him on the AI front. Cramer said financial institutions seemed like natural beneficiaries of AI because of the potential to automate processes and improve efficiency, yet management teams have offered little evidence that the technology is materially improving results.
It hasn’t been complete crickets, Cramer said. “It’s valuable, but nothing that can raise numbers. It’s not helping the efficiency ratio that we can tell and it’s not allowing them to cut back on hiring. Does that mean AI is a bust? No. But I don’t see it making much difference.”
While AI infrastructure companies continue to benefit from the spending boom, Cramer said the same cannot yet be said for many of the businesses buying the technology.
“Sure Anthropic is getting a return … The component companies are doing well,” he said, alluding to companies like memory-chip maker Micron, whose profits have soared. “But shouldn’t the ultimate clients … be able to cite at least a couple of million in savings?”
Cramer said only a handful of companies, most notably fintech firm Block and web-security provider Cloudflare, have clearly attributed recent layoffs to AI adoption. Block did so in February, while Cloudflare’s job cuts were disclosed in May. Plus, critics argue some companies may also cite AI as a buzzy excuse for cuts, leading to the creation of the term “AI washing.”
Ultimately, Cramer said that if more businesses do not begin reporting tangible returns, the AI skeptics will grow louder, with ramifications for the tech industry’s big spenders.
“The longer we go without hearing how actual clients make money, the longer we’ll take days like today, when it seems that the hyperscalers are making money,” with a grain of salt, he said.
