Data study ·
The AI value story is becoming clearer as organisations grow more confident in governance, accountability and employee adoption
- Publication
- KPMG (United Kingdom)
- Author
- Unsigned
- Published on
- 24 September 2026 · read in the publisher's feed
Summary
According to the KPMG Quarterly AI Pulse Survey, conducted among 314 executives at US companies with revenue above $1 billion, nearly 6 in 10 executives see measurable business value from their AI initiatives. Governance is strengthening: 74% of organisations now include cost reviews in their AI approval processes (up from 61% the previous quarter), 70% use tracking dashboards, and 73% of executives say they are confident in their ability to manage AI at scale, up from 57% the previous quarter. The deployment of AI agents is accelerating: 62% of organisations are building or deploying agents, and 25% are developing multi-agent systems, compared with only 6% in previous quarters. Employee adoption is also rising sharply, from 10% a year ago to 44% today, according to Rahsaan Shears, AI transformation leader at KPMG.
Summary based on the full text of the article.
Read the article on KPMG →Figures cited
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74 %
organisations including cost reviews in AI approval processes
large US companies (revenue ≥ $1bn), Q3 2026, n=314 executives
« Nearly three-quarters (74%) of organizations now include cost reviews in AI approval processes, up from 61% last quarter »
Source: KPMG Quarterly AI Pulse Survey
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70 %
organisations using AI tracking dashboards
large US companies (revenue ≥ $1bn), Q3 2026
« 70% use AI monitoring dashboards and 43% have implemented usage or token budgets »
Source: KPMG Quarterly AI Pulse Survey
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43 %
organisations that have set up usage or token budgets
large US companies (revenue ≥ $1bn), Q3 2026
« 70% use AI monitoring dashboards and 43% have implemented usage or token budgets »
Source: KPMG Quarterly AI Pulse Survey
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49 %
executives who have defined high-risk use cases without autonomous decision-making by agents
large US companies (revenue ≥ $1bn), Q3 2026
« Nearly half of leaders (49%) have defined high-risk use cases where they do not allow autonomous decision-making by agents. »
Source: KPMG Quarterly AI Pulse Survey
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73 %
executives expressing confidence in AI governance and in their ability to manage AI at scale
large US companies (revenue ≥ $1bn), Q3 2026, vs 57% the previous quarter
« with 73% of leaders expressing confidence in the governance and capabilities they have in place, a steep jump from 57% last quarter »
Source: KPMG Quarterly AI Pulse Survey
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30 %
organisations building controls into their AI agents with monitoring and evaluation
large US companies, Q3 2026, down from 43% two quarters earlier
« The share of organizations building controls into their agents alongside monitoring and evaluation procedures also fell to 30% from 43% two quarters ago »
Source: KPMG Quarterly AI Pulse Survey
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62 %
organisations building, deploying or developing AI agents
large US companies (revenue ≥ $1bn), Q3 2026, vs 53% the previous quarter
« Today, 62% of organizations report they are now building, deploying or developing AI agents, up from 53% last quarter. »
Source: KPMG Quarterly AI Pulse Survey
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25 %
organisations developing or actively implementing multi-agent systems
large US companies, Q3 2026, vs 6% in the two previous quarters
« Notably, the percentage actively developing or implementing multi-agent systems climbed to 25%, compared to only 6% in the last two quarters. »
Source: KPMG Quarterly AI Pulse Survey
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44 %
organisations reporting significant employee adoption of AI
large US companies, Q3 2026, vs 23% the previous quarter and 10% a year earlier
« The share of organizations reporting significant workforce adoption increased to 44%, up from 23% last quarter and 10% a year ago. »
Source: KPMG Quarterly AI Pulse Survey
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— %
executives reporting measurable business value from their AI initiatives
about 6 in 10 executives, large US companies
« Nearly 6 in 10 leaders report measurable business value from their AI initiatives, according to the latest KPMG Quarterly AI Pulse Survey. »
Source: KPMG Quarterly AI Pulse Survey
Classification
- Country
- United States
- Company size
- Large companies
- Industries
- All industries, or industry not specified
- Companies
- KPMG (study author)
- Keywords
- AI governance, AI agents, enterprise adoption, cost management, multi-agent, executive survey
KPMG sells AI services or products: its studies and publications should be read with that interest in mind.
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 KPMG. Entry translated from French by Claude Sonnet 5.5.