It is a fairly frequent problem many AI companies face. When you build an AI project for a client, half way the client goes bust, or the sponsors (often the CEO) get replaced.
We see that especially with fintech companies.
After seeing a number of them, you start to find a pattern:The ones which were betting so heavily on AI, pushing timelines and increasingly work scope aggressively, tend to be in trouble themselves.
Fintech is still in the business of finance, whose key success factor is making consistent returns while keeping the risk within control. If your business is going well, with stable growth, there is really no need to invest heavily or urgently in AI, or any other technology that is not yet proven. You would rather experiment AI with a controlled, incremental approach.
Those pushing hard tend to need to urgently prove/grow the business to meet expectations, hence taking riskier bets.
No good for companies in the business of finance.
And if you are an AI company, be careful when you receive such requests from such companies.