Data study ·
AI adoption is accelerating in business, but its impact on profitability is stagnating
Original title, in Spanish: “La adopción de la IA se dispara en las empresas, pero su impacto en la rentabilidad se estanca”
- Publication
- Cinco Días (Spain)
- Author
- Santiago Millán
- Published on
- 9 September 2026 · read in the page structured data
Summary
The report "The State of AI 2026: On the road to ROI" by QuantumBlack, AI by McKinsey, indicates that AI adoption has reached 89% of organisations in at least one function, and that 80% of employees report increased productivity. However, only 37% of companies report a positive impact on their EBIT, a figure unchanged from the previous year. Large-scale deployment is progressing (44% versus 38% in 2025), particularly in large companies (more than $1 billion in revenue), where the use of autonomous agents reaches 40% versus 27% in 2025, while it stagnates at 22% among smaller ones. Companies are increasingly favouring in-house development of tools using coding agents over buying commercial software, according to Carlos Fernández Naveira, partner at McKinsey & Company.
Summary based on the full text of the article.
Read the article on Cinco Días →Figures cited
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89 %
Share of organisations that have adopted AI in at least one function
organisations worldwide, 2026
« la adopción de esta tecnología alcanza ya al 89% de las organizaciones »
Source: QuantumBlack, AI by McKinsey - The State of AI 2026: On the road to ROI
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80 %
Share of employees reporting increased productivity thanks to AI
employees, 2026
« un 80% de los empleados asegura haber incrementado su productividad »
Source: QuantumBlack, AI by McKinsey - The State of AI 2026: On the road to ROI
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37 %
Share of companies reporting a positive impact of AI on their EBIT
companies worldwide, 2026, unchanged from the previous year
« el porcentaje de compañías que reporta un impacto positivo en su beneficio bruto (Ebit) se mantiene en el 37% »
Source: QuantumBlack, AI by McKinsey - The State of AI 2026: On the road to ROI
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44 %
Share of companies that have deployed AI at scale across the company
companies worldwide, 2026 (versus 38% in 2025)
« un 44% ya la ha incorporado a gran escala en toda la empresa, superando el 38% que lo había hecho en 2025 »
Source: QuantumBlack, AI by McKinsey - The State of AI 2026: On the road to ROI
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56 %
Share of companies using AI in three or more departments
companies worldwide, 2026 (versus 51% in 2025)
« el porcentaje de compañías que la utilizan en tres o más áreas corporativas ha crecido del 51% al 56% »
Source: QuantumBlack, AI by McKinsey - The State of AI 2026: On the road to ROI
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54 %
Rate of large-scale AI deployment in large companies (more than $1 billion in revenue)
companies with more than $1 billion in revenue, 2026
« Un impulso especialmente evidente en las corporaciones con ingresos superiores a 1.000 millones de dólares, donde el despliegue masivo alcanza el 54% y el uso de agentes autónomos de IA asciende al 40% (frente al 27% en 2025). »
Source: QuantumBlack, AI by McKinsey - The State of AI 2026: On the road to ROI
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40 %
Rate of use of autonomous AI agents in large companies
companies with more than $1 billion in revenue, 2026 (versus 27% in 2025)
« el uso de agentes autónomos de IA asciende al 40% (frente al 27% en 2025) »
Source: QuantumBlack, AI by McKinsey - The State of AI 2026: On the road to ROI
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22 %
Rate of use of autonomous AI agents in small companies
small companies, 2026, stagnating
« en el caso de las compañías más pequeñas la adopción de estos agentes se mantiene estancada en el 22% »
Source: QuantumBlack, AI by McKinsey - The State of AI 2026: On the road to ROI
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64 %
Share of large companies that have adopted chatbots at scale
large companies worldwide, 2026
« los chatbots continúan siendo la tecnología más extendida, adoptados a escala por el 47% de las empresas a nivel global y por el 64% de las grandes corporaciones »
Source: QuantumBlack, AI by McKinsey - The State of AI 2026: On the road to ROI
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32 %
Share of companies that gave up buying commercial software thanks to in-house development using AI agents
companies surveyed, 2026
« un 32% de los encuestados asegura que su organización ha renunciado a comprar al menos un producto o función de software comercial al ser capaz de desarrollarlos internamente con sus propios agentes de programación »
Source: QuantumBlack, AI by McKinsey - The State of AI 2026: On the road to ROI
Classification
- Country
- Worldwide scope
- Company size
- Large companies, All sizes
- Industries
- All industries, or industry not specified · Software vendors, IT services companies, telecoms · Healthcare, pharmaceuticals, social care · Consulting, legal, accounting, business services · Energy, utilities, environment
- Companies
- McKinsey & Company (study author), QuantumBlack, AI by McKinsey (study author)
- Keywords
- AI adoption, return on investment, autonomous agents, productivity, profitability, in-house development
Entry written by Marsanne Studio from the cited article, with the help of an AI model (claude-sonnet-5). The rights to the article and its illustrations belong to Cinco Días and its author. Entry translated from French by Claude Sonnet 5.5.