During the first six months of 2026, 372 large U.S. companies filed for bankruptcy, the highest midyear total in at least 16 years, according to S&P Global Market Intelligence. Data from the American Bankruptcy Institute shows small-business bankruptcies jumped 50% during the first half of the year compared to the same period in 2025. The difficult economy reflects higher interest rates, more selective consumer spending, and rising costs. Investors have also become more demanding, with recent selloffs in AI-related stocks indicating Wall Street wants evidence that massive AI infrastructure spending will translate into stronger earnings and higher productivity. Companies that successfully integrate AI can accomplish the same amount of work with fewer resources, giving them a competitive advantage. In one large workplace study, researchers tracked more than 5,000 customer-service agents at a Fortune 500 software company, finding workers using an AI assistant resolved 15% more customer problems per hour on average. Another experiment followed 758 consultants at Boston Consulting Group, who completed their work more than 25% faster and finished 12% more tasks when using GPT-4 for suited tasks.