Relay, an AI workflow automation tool that competed with Zapier, shut down because larger platforms like OpenAI and Google built the same features directly into their products. This illustrates a broader pattern: according to S&P Global Market Intelligence, 42% of AI initiatives get abandoned by their corporate parents due to funding shortfalls, technical problems, competition, or weak user demand. The result is a growing list of failed AI bets worth examining for what they reveal about the industry's missteps. Even the biggest players have stumbled repeatedly. OpenAI tried redesigning ChatGPT into a "super app" with separate modes in July 2026, but users found it confusing and the company rolled it back within weeks. The company also shut down ChatGPT Atlas (a web browser that lasted less than a year) and Operator (a web-browsing agent), folding their features into the main ChatGPT product. Sora, OpenAI's video platform, closed in March 2026 due to high operating costs and poor retention. Microsoft's Recall feature faced such intense privacy backlash after its 2024 announcement that the company delayed it nearly a year—and even after redesigning it, a researcher demonstrated that sensitive data could still be extracted. Apple's improved Siri, announced in 2024 as a flagship feature of Apple Intelligence, got repeatedly postponed for engineering issues and didn't reach beta until July 2026, contributing to a $250 million settlement over misleading iPhone 16 marketing claims. Hardware devices proved especially vulnerable. Humane raised $230 million for its AI Pin wearable but the product performed poorly and had battery fire risks, forcing a shutdown in February 2025—HP bought the remnants for $116 million. Rabbit R1 generated hype at CES 2024 and sold 100,000 units initially, but reviews called it unfinished with unreliable performance and limited integrations; it's still limping along with updates. Other failures include Notion Mail (launching April 2025, shutting down September 2026 as users switched to separate AI agents), Huxe (an audio app that turned text into podcasts, closed May 2026 as Spotify expanded similar tools), Yupp (a model-comparison playground with 800+ models, shut down March 2026 despite 1 million users), and Figgs AI (a character roleplay platform that couldn't sustain free operations after drawing over 1 million users).