40%About 2 in 5of respondents at large organizations ($1B+ revenue) say they are scaling AI agents, up from 27% a year earlier; smaller organizations stayed at 22%
40% of respondents at organizations with more than $1 billion in revenue said they were scaling AI agents in McKinsey's 2026 global survey (4 May to 8 June 2026), up from 27% a year earlier. At smaller organizations the share stayed at 22%.
+13.0 points since the previous figure: 27% (5 Nov 2025)
SurveyChecked at source, 23 Oct 2026LargeGlobalAI agents · Adoption
Respondents whose organizations are scaling AI agents (McKinsey)
Group
Scaling
Large orgs, 2025
27%
Large orgs, 2026
40%
Smaller orgs, 2026
22%
Large orgs, coding agents, 2026
31%
Source: McKinsey & Company, The State of AI (McKinsey Global Survey)McKinsey State of AI 2026 (1,719 respondents); 2025 large-organization value as restated in the 2026 report. Large = more than $1 billion revenue.digitaltreed.com/statistics
In plain words
What this number really says
Big companies are pulling ahead with AI agents. Two in five large organizations now scale them; smaller ones have not moved in a year.
40%
of large-organization respondents scale AI agents
22%
of smaller-organization respondents, flat on last year
32%
skipped buying software because coding agents could build it
Why you can trust it. McKinsey online survey of 1,719 respondents in 97 nations. Respondents report on their own organizations; it is not a random sample of firms.
Key terms
Scaling Expanding an agent beyond a pilot within at least one business function.
Coding agent An AI agent that writes, tests or changes software code.
Large organization Annual revenue above $1 billion in McKinsey's survey.
Large organizations scaling AI agents (2025 survey).
May-Jun 2026
40%
2026 survey, published 25 Aug 2026.
2027
Next
McKinsey runs the State of AI survey every year.
Compare
How 40% compares
This number
40%
Global May-Jun 2026
Latest
Smaller organizations
22%
Scaling AI agents, 2026
-18 pts
Large organizations, 2025
27%
Scaling AI agents a year earlier
+13 pts
Coding agents, large orgs
31%
Scaling software coding agents, 2026
-9 pts
Who it is for
Who should use this number, and how
Software and IT leaders
See how fast large peers scale agents.
IT, knowledge management and software engineering lead.
Smaller companies
Know the gap is about scale, not interest.
Smaller firms stayed at 22%.
Software vendors
Watch build-versus-buy decisions.
32% skipped a software purchase.
Who it affects
Who feels this number
The same 40% means something different for each group.
Large enterprises
40%Scaling
Up 13 points in a year.
Smaller organizations
22%Flat
No change since 2025.
Software vendors
32%Lost sales
Respondents whose firms decided against buying software they could build with coding agents.
Gains and risks
What firms gain, and what can go wrong
Numbers from studies and surveys, each with its source.
Gains
32%
of respondents say their organization decided against buying software because it could be built in-house with agentic coding tools.McKinsey State of AI 2026
37%
of respondents attribute at least some EBIT impact to AI use.McKinsey State of AI 2026
Risks
About 20%
of respondents say AI operating costs, including token costs, constrained their AI use.McKinsey State of AI 2026
39%
expect AI to decrease their organization's headcount over the next year.McKinsey State of AI 2026
Where it shows
Where this number has an impact
Build instead of buy
Nearly a third (32%) skipped buying software they could build with coding agents.
Costs bite
About one in ten say chatbots, agents and coding agents were each constrained by cost.
The future
What this number says about what comes next
Forecasts below are made by others and linked to where they were published. Our own reading of the data is marked as ours.
Our reading, not a forecast
What the data suggests
A two-speed market. Large firms grew from 27% to 40% while smaller firms stayed at 22%. Expect the gap to show up in agent tools priced for enterprises first.
Forecasts from other sources
Forecast$29.2B
Worldwide spending on AI agents and assistants in 2026 (forecast, $29,219M), $65.5B in 2027
As published by McKinsey & Company, The State of AI (McKinsey Global Survey), May-Jun 2026. Standard errors are shown where the source gives them.
McKinsey State of AI
Large ($1B+)
Smaller
All respondents
Scaling AI agents, 2026
40%
22%
About 2 in 10
Scaling AI agents, 2025
27%
-
23% (agentic AI system)
Scaling software coding agents, 2026
31%
-
About 2 in 10
At least experimenting with agents, 2025
-
-
62%
Why McKinsey shows 40% and Gartner 17%
McKinsey asks respondents whether they are scaling agents in at least one function; Gartner's CIO survey asks whether agents are deployed.
McKinsey splits by company revenue; the 40% is only for organizations above $1 billion.
Method and use
How it was measured, and how to use it
How it was measured
Publisher
McKinsey & Company, The State of AI (McKinsey Global Survey)
Source type
Survey: Sampled survey with a published method
What it measures
40% of respondents at large organizations ($1B+ revenue) say they are scaling AI agents, up from 27% a year earlier; smaller organizations stayed at 22%
Data period
May-Jun 2026 (ends 8 Jun 2026)
Published by the source
25 Aug 2026
Who is counted
1,719 online respondents in 97 nations, 4 May to 8 Jun 2026; large = more than $1 billion annual revenue (36% of respondents).
In the source's words
Forty percent of respondents from large organizations (those with annual revenues of more than $1 billion) report scaling AI agents, up from 27 percent last year.
Checked at source
23 Oct 2026: Read on mckinsey.com ("The state of AI in 2026: On the road to ROI", 25 Aug 2026) on 2026-10-23 (page text loaded in a browser; the site blocks plain downloads). Same paragraph: "The share of respondents from smaller organizations reporting scaling remained flat at 22 percent."
Reuse
All rights reserved; quote briefly with credit. Online survey of respondents worldwide, weighted by nation GDP contribution; not a random sample of firms.
23 Oct 2026CorrectionWording corrected to match the source: the $234B forecast is an upper limit ('up to')
25 Aug 2026New data40% 2026 survey.
5 Nov 2025New data27% Large organizations scaling AI agents in the 2025 survey, as restated in the 2026 report.
Cite this number
APA
McKinsey & Company. (2026). 40% of respondents at large organizations ($1B+ revenue) say they are scaling AI agents, up from 27% a year earlier; smaller organizations stayed at 22%. Via digitaltreed, https://digitaltreed.com/statistics/ai-agents/large-orgs-scaling-ai-agents
MLA
"40% of respondents at large organizations ($1B+ revenue) say they are scaling AI agents, up from 27% a year earlier; smaller organizations stayed at 22%." McKinsey & Company, The State of AI (McKinsey Global Survey), May-Jun 2026. digitaltreed, https://digitaltreed.com/statistics/ai-agents/large-orgs-scaling-ai-agents.
HTML link
<a href="https://digitaltreed.com/statistics/ai-agents/large-orgs-scaling-ai-agents">40% of respondents at large organizations ($1B+ revenue) say they are scaling AI agents, up from 27% a year earlier; smaller organizations stayed at 22%</a> (McKinsey & Company, May-Jun 2026)
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<p>Source: <a href="https://digitaltreed.com/statistics/ai-agents/large-orgs-scaling-ai-agents">40% of respondents at large organizations ($1B+ revenue) say they are scaling AI agents, up from 27% a year earlier; smaller organizations stayed at 22%, digitaltreed</a></p>
