Agentic AI has vaulted from buzzword to board-approved budget line almost overnight, yet impact still lags intent.
Agentic AI adoption
Has agentic AI really arrived?
Poor data in, cascade of errors out
Molding AI into a responsible ally
The EY US AI Pulse Survey results show many leaders racing to fund agentic AI initiatives, but far fewer have scaled them past pilots. That disconnect isn’t just lack of technology; it’s a strategy gap, too.
In this third wave, we evaluate why enthusiasm outpaces execution, which barriers leaders are facing, and the strategic moves that could convert AI experiments into measurable value.
21% of senior leaders whose organizations are investing in AI report their organizations currently have $10 million or more invested in AI, with 35% planning to do so next year. Both of those figures are significantly higher than those from six months ago, reflecting growing confidence in AI’s transformative potential.
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Has agentic AI really arrived?
Agentic AI poses both enormous promise and total confusion as the hottest buzzword in tech today. Most say that agentic AI will manage entire business units — but also always require built-in human intervention.
While 34% of leaders have started implementing agentic AI, only 14% report full implementation, and use cases largely fall within assisting/managing processes. And 87% of senior leaders identify barriers to agentic AI adoption in their organization, including cybersecurity and data privacy concerns. Many senior leaders (64%) cite fear of replacement as a top concern.
Agents present an opportunity to achieve more — what was never believed possible.
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EY Global Consulting AI Leader
DAN DIASIO
EY Global Consulting AI Leader
DAN DIASIO
We’re talking about a step change in how work is done, not going a couple of steps beyond robotic process automation (RPA)-level tasks. The right organizations will seize the additive power of both agents and humans and channel cost savings into innovation.
Poor data in, cascade of errors out
Agentic AI has raised the stakes, highlighting how senior leaders must grapple with risks from both the inputs and outputs of agents and AI more broadly. Poor inputs don’t just slow performance. They compound errors at scale, making data hygiene the first gate to trustworthy autonomy.
of leaders have started implementing agentic AI
34%
of leaders report full implementation and use cases largely fall within assisting/managing processes
14%
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EY Americas AI and Data Leader
TRACI GUSHER
Data underpins every facet of AI and becomes even more important for AI agents, if they are to effectively operate autonomously to scale work, orchestrate workflows and complete complex tasks ...
EY Americas AI and Data Leader
TRACI GUSHER
Hallucinations can magnify and snowball when data readiness is weak, particularly when agents work with other agents. But we also find that AI can play an important role in data cleansing and other data management tactics to build a better foundation for agentic AI.
of senior leaders identify barriers to agentic AI adoption in their organization, including cybersecurity and data privacy concerns
87%
of senior leaders cite fear of replacement as a top concern
64%
Molding AI into a responsible ally
Moving beyond agentic AI pilots demands a framework that checks for bias, monitors behavior, and enforces safeguards every time the model acts.
Leaders whose organizations are investing in AI say the time spent training employees on using AI responsibly has increased over the past year ...
Wave 3
59%
Wave 1
49%
Wave 1
49%
Wave 3
64%
... and it will increase even more over the next year.
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EY Americas Responsible AI Leader
SiNCLAIR SCHULLER
As a concept, responsible AI is easy to understand, but it’s operationally fuzzy to truly implement for many organizations.
EY Americas Responsible AI Leader
SINCLAIR SCHULLER
Each survey, you can simultaneously see more leaders taking it seriously as well as pushing it down the road to next year a bit.
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Meet the leaders
Dan Diasio
Traci Gusher
Sinclair Schuller
EY Americas Responsible AI Leader
EY Americas AI and Data Leader
EY Global Consulting AI Leader
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Product
innovation
43%
Competitive advantages
43%
Cybersecurity
49%
Customer satisfaction
55%
Technology
upgrades
62%
Product
innovation
74%
Competitive advantages
76%
Cybersecurity
78%
Customer satisfaction
78%
Technology
upgrades
82%
Budgeting less than 5%
Budgeting 5% or more
Positive ROI based on amount of total budget allocated to AI
Our findings revealed companies allocating 5% or more of their budget to AI are gaining vastly more ROI compared with those spending less.
Yet overall rates of ROI have stagnated or directionally declined from the results of six months ago in areas such as operational efficiencies, competitive advantages and product innovation.
Agentic AI adoption
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