Enterprise AI Pilots Rarely Reach Production Scale

Databricks co-founder Arsalan Tavakoli-Shiraji will argue at TechCrunch Disrupt 2026 (October 13–15, San Francisco) that enterprise AI failures stem from vendors' flawed assumptions about enterprise operations, not organizational resistance. He contends that AI practitioners often impose models designed for greenfield or consumer environments onto enterprises with distinct governance, compliance, and integration requirements. The positioning mirrors cloud adoption struggles a decade prior, when mismatched security and compliance frameworks—not technological conservatism—impeded enterprise adoption.