Poor connectivity from IoT devices is hindering adoption of AI in a third of businesses (34%), according to the new 2025 State of IoT report from Eseye.
The report, which surveyed 1,200 senior IoT decision makers, warned that these unreliable data streams are risking corporate AI strategies, as findings demonstrate only 2% of organisations achieve the high levels of connectivity required.
This performance gap exists in spite of the majority of business leaders stating that high connectivity performance is essential for device uptime. The research found that ‘74% agreed that achieving near 100% global connectivity is crucial to my business case.’
Now in its fifth year, the research commissioned by Eseye is warning this unreliability has direct operational consequences. More than a third of businesses cited an ‘Inability to gather timely and accurate data due to device downtime, leading to poor business decisions’ (36%) and damage to their company’s reputation (36%) as key risks they face. A similar number pointed to a ‘Loss of operational efficiency and increased costs due to unreliable connections’ (35%).
“We all hear about the incredible promise of AI to help us solve major global challenges, from creating smarter healthcare and more sustainable cities, to managing our energy and water resources. But what’s often missed is that these revolutionary AI models are completely dependent on a constant stream of real-world data from a vast network of IoT sensors,” said Paul Marshall, Co-Founder and COO, Eseye. “Our research reveals a critical flaw in this foundation. We found that only 2% of these IoT deployments are achieving the near-100% connectivity they need. This means we may be building our transformative AI ambitions on a network that isn’t yet consistently dependable. This isn’t just a risk to business ROI, it’s a risk to the evolution of AI applications.
“In mission-critical IoT scenarios, failure isn’t just inconvenient – it’s life-threatening. Imagine a life-saving medical sensor detecting a dangerous drop in a patient’s oxygen levels. If that data point can’t be transmitted and then analysed by AI applications due to a failed connection, the alert never reaches clinicians in time. The result? A missed opportunity to intervene, and potentially a preventable fatality. To make the promise of AI a reality for everyone, we must first solve this foundational IoT connectivity challenge.”
These findings are captured from the 2025 State of IoT report.
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