AI agent adoption surges as businesses gain confidence in technology

Deployment of artificial intelligence (AI) agents is surging in organizations with companies becoming more confident in AI adoption. That’s according to the KPMG Q3 2025 AI Quarterly Pulse survey.

The latest findings reveal that AI agent deployment has nearly quadrupled with 42 percent of organizations now having deployed at least some agents, up from 11 percent two quarters ago.

Technology departments are leading in agent deployment with 95 percent leveraging agents to deliver immediate productivity gains. Operations and risk management departments follow at 89 percent and 66 percent, respectively. 

Separate research from IBM indicates that businesses view AI agents as essential tools in process automation and enhanced decision-making. Meanwhile, the PEX Report 2025/26 found that 40 percent of surveyed organizations currently use AI agents to support business transformation, with 59 percent planning to invest in agentic AI/AI agents in the next 12 months.

Businesses are increasingly confident in adopting AI

The increasing AI confidence within organization is reflected in projected AI investment levels, which have increased by 14 percent since the first quarter of the year to an average of US$130 million for the coming year, KPMG stated.

The most telling shift is how organizations are reconsidering what success looks like. An overwhelming 78 percent of leaders now acknowledge that traditional business metrics do not capture AI’s full impact, a recognition that speaks to the technology’s transformative nature beyond simple cost savings.

As AI and agents are increasingly integrated into workflows, employee resistance has plummeted from 47 percent to just 21 percent in a single quarter, with 55 percent of the workforce now either accepting or actively embracing AI agents, according to KPMG.

Organizations are investing in comprehensive training programs to teach prompt engineering skills, creating sandbox environments for safe experimentation and implementing innovative “AI agent shadowing” programs where employees learn through observation, the survey suggests. This transformation extends to hiring strategies as well, with most leaders (56 percent) expecting to adjust entry-level recruiting within 12 months.

“We’re already seeing agent deployments deliver measurable ROI – both inside our firm and with clients,” said Steve Chase, US vice chair and global head of AI and digital innovation at KPMG. “Agents are taking on repeatable, measurable work where time and cost savings show up directly in the metrics organizations track today. That clarity is why leaders feel so confident about achieving ROI in the next 12 months: the results are visible, tangible and compounding quickly.”

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Data quality and cybersecurity challenges persist in AI adoption

However, while organizations are investing and moving forward, data quality has emerged as the top barrier to success with 82 percent of respondents citing it as critical compared to 56 percent last quarter, KPMG noted. Cybersecurity concerns have also intensified, now affecting 78 percent of organizations.

As organizations look ahead, three imperatives stand out. First, data foundations enable AI ambitions and no amount of sophisticated technology can overcome poor data quality. Second, human-AI collaboration requires intentional design and sustained investment in workforce development. Third, success metrics must evolve to capture AI’s true value across quality improvements, innovation acceleration, and competitive positioning.

“Leaders must balance speed with governance, ambition with pragmatism and technology investment with human capability building,” said Chase. 

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