According to new insights from KPMG’s latest AI Quarterly Pulse Survey, the majority of organisations are already past the AI agent experimentation phase—33% of which have deployed at least some agents, up three-fold after two consecutive quarters at 11%.

Though the professional services firm highlighted that the momentum here reflects a pivotal inflection where agents are moving beyond simply experimental technology to business-critical assets, real transformation will likely come when companies implement more sophisticated agent types. This includes the likes of adaptive artificial intelligence and multiagent systems which can collaborate and orchestrate tasks singlehandedly.

A notable proportion of leaders are taking a balanced, long-term approach to their agent strategies, KPMG also found. Nearly half (46%) are evenly prioritising efficiency gains alongside revenue growth, recognising that sustainable AI transformation requires both operational optimisation and new value creation.

“The data shows just how quickly AI agents are moving out of pilots and into production – and that momentum will only accelerate,” noted Steve Chase, who serves as KPMG’s vice chair of AI & digital innovation.

“What makes this moment unique is that leaders increasingly see agents not just as a way to cut costs, but as a way to rethink growth and create new value. But we’ve seen firsthand, both in our own journey and with clients, how transformation at this pace puts real pressure on the foundations of AI: trust, governance, data, leadership alignment, and workforce readiness.

“The organizations that invested early in these areas are now scaling with confidence and positioning themselves to lead in this next phase.”

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Organisational Change Amid Agentic AI’s Increased Adoption
As agentic AI adoption increases, the professional services firm uncovered that there’s near unanimous agreement that large-scale organisational changes are coming. In fact, nearly nine in ten leaders believe agents will necessitate companies to redefine performance metrics, and compel organisations to upskill talent whose roles may be displaced by agentic AI.

In light of this, organisations are putting into action targeted training strategies. This includes teaching prompt skills so that AI agent effectiveness can be maximised (69%), to creating agent-specific sandbox environments so workers can receive hands-on practice (49%).

“The organizations that will thrive in this agentic future are those that recognize deployment is only the beginning,” explained Edwige Sacco, head of workforce innovation at KPMG.

“As employers, we have a responsibility to help prepare current and future workers for the transition to a new era of work; a healthier and happier workforce is necessary for every company’s long-term growth and resilience.

“Investments in human-centric change management, modern ways of learning, proactive upskilling, and new human-AI collaboration models are essential for unlocking the long-term return on AI investments.”

To uncover their new findings, KPMG’s survey gained insight from C-suite and business leaders from 130 U.S.-based organisations, whose annual revenue is over $1 billion or more.