Oracle's $144B Cloud Bet Amid AI Adoption Decline; Microsoft Partners with Anthropic for Office 365
Oracle Corporation has made headlines with its ambitious revenue projections, forecasting a dramatic increase in its cloud server rental business from $10 billion in fiscal 2025 to $144 billion by fiscal 2030. This growth is attributed to a significant rise in new contracts and a 359% boost in business backlog, largely driven by partnerships with major AI firms. Despite the excitement surrounding these projections, analysts express caution, noting that a decline in enterprise AI adoption could jeopardize Oracle's plans. Recent data indicates that 95% of companies using AI have not seen new revenue, raising questions about the sustainability of Oracle's aggressive investment strategy.
The latest statistics reveal a concerning trend in AI adoption among large companies, which has dropped from nearly 14% to under 12% in just a few months. This decline is particularly alarming for investors who have heavily invested in AI technologies, expecting them to revolutionize business operations. As companies reassess their reliance on AI, many are beginning to rehire human workers, acknowledging that the technology has not met earlier expectations. Gartner predicts that while AI will play a significant role in IT departments by 2030, the current reality shows that a substantial percentage of CIOs are not seeing a return on their AI investments.
In response to the evolving landscape, a new licensing standard called Really Simple Licensing (RSL) has emerged, aimed at empowering web publishers to set terms for how AI developers can use their content. Supported by major brands like Reddit and Yahoo, this initiative seeks to create a fair compensation model for content creators amidst ongoing legal disputes over AI data scraping. The RSL standard allows site owners to charge fees for AI bots crawling their sites, potentially providing smaller publishers with a mechanism to assert the value of their work.
Meanwhile, Microsoft is taking steps to diversify its AI offerings by partnering with Anthropic to enhance its Office 365 applications, reducing its reliance on OpenAI. This move comes as Microsoft bundles its sales, service, and finance copilots into a single offering at a lower price, making AI tools more accessible to users. Additionally, the launch of MSPcentric aims to address the challenges of professional services automation integrations within the IT channel, highlighting the ongoing need for efficiency in the industry. As these developments unfold, the focus remains on how AI can deliver tangible benefits to businesses and the workforce.
Four things to know today
00:00 Oracle bets $35B on AI future, projecting $144B cloud growth despite slowing adoption signals
03:39 AI adoption stalls as ROI disappoints, but workforce shifts show upskilling is key
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