At a Glance

  • Corporate investment in artificial intelligence has surged over the past year, with AI agents adding new momentum to market growth, according to a survey released Tuesday by Ernst & Young.
  • About 21% of surveyed business leaders said their organizations invest $10 million or more in AI, up from 16% a year earlier, while 35% expect to spend $10 million or more on the technology next year, according to the survey by the Big Four accounting firm.
  • "Executives are grappling with the tension between the awe of AI's potential and the complexity of integrating it effectively into their organizations," Dan Diasio, EY's global consulting AI leader, said in a press release. "The next step for leaders is to leverage the synergy of AI and human intelligence, turning cost savings into breakthrough innovation."

Deep Insights

AI agents—systems designed to perform work tasks with minimal human intervention—are projected to generate up to $450 billion in economic value by 2028 through revenue gains and cost savings across 14 countries, including the U.S., UK, France, Germany, Spain, Italy, and Japan, according to a report released earlier this month by tech consultancy Capgemini.

Gartner, meanwhile, predicts that by 2028, at least 15% of day-to-day work decisions will be made autonomously through agentic AI.

The EY survey also found that about 34% of senior business leaders said their organizations have begun deploying agentic AI technology. Common use cases include process management, customer support enhancement, IT efficiency improvements, and cybersecurity reinforcement.

The study found that nearly three-quarters (73%) of senior leaders believe entire business functions will be managed by agentic AI in the future. However, 87% of respondents noted their organizations face barriers to adopting agentic AI, including data privacy concerns and a lack of regulatory frameworks governing the technology's use.

The survey covered 500 business leaders across various industries in the United States.