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Gartner’s Hype Cycle for AI uses a five-phase model to graphically represent the maturity of AI technologies, showing how they evolve from an “innovation trigger” to the “plateau of productivity”.

The Hype Cycle for AI:

• Innovation Trigger: A new technology emerges, sparking interest, initial experiments, and media attention.
• Peak of Inflated Expectations: There is a lot of hype, media coverage, and supplier interest, but there is still little proof of the technology’s ability to deliver.
• Trough of Disillusionment: Early adopters experience predictable performance issues and low returns on investment as the initial excitement fades.
• Slope of Enlightenment: Early adopters begin to see benefits, and more use cases emerge as the technology matures.
• Plateau of Productivity: The technology becomes widely adopted, and its real-world usefulness is proven as it becomes mainstream. 

The 2024 Gartner Hype Cycle shows Gen-AI as having moved into the “trough of disillusionment” after reaching a “peak of inflated expectations”. This is due to challenges like inconsistent outputs, hallucinations, and an inability to find enough use cases that are tolerant of inaccuracies. The cycle also shows that other AI innovations (such as AI agents) are in different phases of the cycle.