AI, the Hype Cycle & Buzzword Fatigue
AI, AI, AI… Everyone’s talking about it, and frankly, I’m exhausted. It comes up multiple times a day. My inbox is flooded. My LinkedIn feed is a wall of AI content. I feel overwhelmed, and worse, I feel guilty for not knowing more.
And yet - I’m a disruptive tech nerd, so the FOMO is real. What if I’m falling behind?
Here’s the kicker: I’m also a hypocrite. I talk about AI constantly. I’ve evangelized it to clients, colleagues, and friends. A year and a half ago, I even wrote an aggressive piece calling out compliance leaders for not being curious enough about it.
But being as (ahem) experienced as I am, I’ve seen this movie before. The AI buzz is following the same pattern we saw with the internet, mobile, and cloud/SaaS. And still… I’m sick of it. Even if AI is “the next big thing.”
Why?
It comes down to a phenomenon called the Hype Cycle, and its side effect: buzzword fatigue.
The Hype Cycle 101
The Hype Cycle, coined by Gartner, maps the predictable arc of emerging tech trends. Think of it as the Kübler-Ross model for innovation:
- Peak of Inflated Expectations – Sky-high media coverage, investor frenzy, and promises that tech will change everything.
- Trough of Disillusionment – Reality sets in, people get skeptical, and buzzword fatigue kicks in.
- Slope of Enlightenment – Companies figure out what actually works.
- Plateau of Productivity – Widespread adoption and measurable impact.
We’ve seen this cycle with the internet, mobile, SaaS ...and now, AI.
So What Is Buzzword Fatigue?
It’s not just a vibe. it’s a real psychological effect. When jargon like “machine learning,” “deep learning,” “neural networks,” and “LLMs” get tossed around nonstop, it creates cognitive overload.
Even people who are excited about tech start to feel alienated. We fear looking uninformed. We avoid asking questions. And ultimately, we burn out on the whole topic.
Insights from folks like Adam Grant (Wharton) and Christina Maslach (UC Berkeley) back this up. It’s not just overexposure - it’s the loss of meaning that drains us.
And that’s exactly where I am right now. And if the conversations I’ve had recently are any indicator, I’m not alone.
Now What?
Despite the fatigue, we all know this AI wave is real. Just like the internet transformed everything, AI will too.
Here’s the twist: The real value from disruptive tech tends to emerge after the peak of the Hype Cycle ...when hype cools and practical use cases take center stage. That moment? We’re either in it now or about to be.
That’s why we shouldn’t tune out AI just yet. This is the moment to lean in - strategically - for our own development, and for our teams and firms benefit.
While AI excels at processing data and automating tasks, human input is crucial now and into the future. Humans have unique capabilities like critical thinking, empathy, and ethical reasoning, aka judgement, which AI currently lacks.
Ultimately, the combination of human strengths and AI's capabilities offers the most powerful and responsible approach to leveraging technology.
But it starts with us staying focused and learning how to harness it.
Oh – and speaking of harnessing it AND remembering I’m a hypocrite already – AI helped me write this blog in total of 3 hours, including the image. 😊Normally, I’d have struggled for days on it!
Three Resources to Help You Cut Through the Noise
Below are 3 resources that may help you get acclimated more to AI’s use in Compliance. The first report (Truong 2025) delves into using Twitter sentiment to map AI buzz onto the Hype Cycle and Kübler-Ross curve. Spoiler: after the hype comes real adoption. The other two are found on Star’s website but are not sales materials. One is a blog and the other an eBook.
- "Hype and Adoption of Generative Artificial Intelligence Applications" by Vinh Truong (April 2025)
- Rethinking Compliance In The Age of AI | Executive Briefing by Kelvin Dickenson
- The Intelligence Era: Moving Beyond Automation | StarCompliance