In the 1990s, Erik Brynjolfsson’s “productivity paradox” showed that computers were everywhere — except in the productivity statistics. The lesson was clear: new tech alone doesn’t drive value. Organizations need complementary changes in process, culture, and workflows to unlock the gains.
Fast forward to 2025, and we see the same paradox playing out with generative AI. Studies like MIT’s “GenAI Divide” show that while AI adoption is widespread, transformation is rare. Most enterprises pilot AI, but few scale it in ways that impact P&L.
This resonates deeply in capital projects. Owner-operators and EPCs are adopting AI tools at the edges — chatbots for procurement, dashboards for reporting — but the productivity numbers don’t budge. Why? Because the core workflows remain disconnected: specs change without visibility, meeting actions disappear into email, and critical path risks emerge too late.
At Optimality, this is exactly the gap we’re addressing. Our platform doesn’t stop at “AI in the margins.” It embeds AI agents (Optimizers) directly into project workflows:
- Detecting downstream risks when deliverables change
- Turning meeting transcripts into accountable actions
- Recalculating the critical path in real time when conditions shift
In other words, we’re bridging the AI productivity paradox by focusing on workflow, not just technology. The true gains come when AI is paired with structured processes, version traceability, and commitment tracking — the missing complements that let leaders actually see productivity show up in the numbers.
The paradox teaches us that adoption isn’t transformation. For capital projects, transformation means fewer reworks, shorter delays, and more predictable delivery. That’s what Optimality is built to deliver.