Beyond the Hype

A clear-eyed guide to what artificial intelligence really does - and where it goes wrong. Artificial intelligence now shapes decisions in boardrooms, classrooms, courtrooms, and everyday life. Promises of productivity, automation, and transformation are everywhere - yet a striking proportion of AI projects fail, often in costly or dangerous ways. Generative AI systems hallucinate, inherit bias from their training data, and are frequently deployed where they do not belong. In Beyond The Hype, industry analyst Andy Hayler explains how AI actually works, from its historical roots to today's large language models. He breaks down different flavours of AI, showing why some approaches succeed while others collapse, and why generative AI in particular brings unique limitations alongside genuine opportunities. Drawing on real-world case studies across finance, healthcare, law, education, defence, creative industries, and more, the book examines where AI delivers value - and where it creates new risks. It explores hallucinations, deepfakes, data quality, model drift, regulation, ethics, environmental impact, and the economics of AI adoption, including why so many initiatives fail to deliver returns. Written for executives, technologists, and curious readers alike, Beyond The Hype provides a grounded, evidence-based framework for understanding AI without exaggeration or fear. It is a practical roadmap for making better decisions in a world increasingly shaped by machine intelligence.