Dive Brief:
- U.S. tech leaders expect to spend $207 million on AI over the next 12 months even if a recession occurs, nearly doubling their spending forecast from last year, according to KPMG data.. The accounting giant polled more than 2,000 global tech leaders, including 237 U.S. based executives, for the Tuesday report.
- As spending accelerates, much of the focus of that capital is in deploying AI agents, with 57% of survey responders expecting humans to primarily manage AI agents for the next two or three years.
- Nearly two-thirds of respondents reported measurable ROI from their AI strategies, but there’s a gap between companies in the experimentation phase and those who have fully scaled their AI agents. Employee skills gaps, difficulty scaling use cases, data privacy and cybersecurity concerns were among the top barriers to seeing ROI from AI pilots.
Dive Insight:
With more to spend on AI aspirations, enterprise CIOs are evaluating what their pilots can deliver.
More than half of organizations are deploying AI agents in day-to-day operations, with the goal of sharing knowledge across an enterprise, the survey said. AI agents are also automating workflows across teams, routing information or decisions between teams and supporting decision-making.
But many organizations are still experimenting with AI, the report found, and those with mature AI deployments and agentic AI capabilities are finding the most value.
The organizations finding value in their AI adoptions are not just investing in the technology, but also in their people, behaviors and trust.
The study found that 45% of leaders will pay more for talent with strong AI skills and 66% said they are hiring for AI-specific roles. However, human capabilities such as critical thinking, problem-solving abilities and creative skills are in high demand even as AI agents rise in popularity.
Increased AI spending does not implicitly create more value for enterprises, said Steve Chase, the global head of AI and digital innovation at KPMG International, in a press release.
“Ultimately, there is no agentic future without trust and no trust without governance that keeps pace," Chase said. "The survey makes clear that sustained investment in people, training and change management is what allows organizations to scale AI responsibly and capture value.”
