Yet from what we’re seeing in the field, broad adoption doesn’t always mean deep impact. Many employees are using agentic features built into enterprise apps to speed up routine tasks — surfacing insights, updating records, answering questions. It’s a meaningful boost in productivity, but it stops short of transformation.

That’s beginning to shift. Multi-agent models are emerging as a powerful next step —systems of AI agents working in concert to deliver tangible results. These agents can take on complex, cross-functional workflows across finance, customer service, software development, R&D and more.

AI isn’t just another technology, as more and more executives recognize. Three-quarters (75%) agree or strongly agree that AI agents will reshape the workplace more than the internet did. What’s more, 71% agree that AI agents are advancing so quickly that artificial general intelligence (AGI), in which AI can think, learn and solve problems as broadly and flexibly as a human, will be a reality within two years.

With the potential for disruption growing, playing it safe isn’t a strategy. To lead with AI, you need to move with intention. Our survey reveals four areas that demand your attention.

1. Budgets are surging

Almost nine out of 10 executives surveyed (88%) say their companies plan to up their AI-related budgets this year due to agentic AI. Over a quarter plan increases of 26% or more, likely to pay for ambitious plans.

Still, most (68%) report that half or fewer of their employees interact with agents in their everyday work. Few have the kind of agentic workflows that a leading hospitality company we worked with has already put in place. There, employees and customers engage with teams of AI agents working across functions — enhancing experiences, improving speed and driving down costs.

This is a real-world example of multi-agent models in action — AI agents working together to deliver meaningful outcomes. While this is already delivering significant value for one company, it signals what’s next for many others.

2. Measurable value is here

If your company is like most, leadership (and other stakeholders) want AI results now — increased revenue, lower costs or other concrete value — and AI agents are delivering. Of those adopting AI agents, nearly two-thirds (66%) report increased productivity. Over half (57%) report cost savings, faster decision-making (55%) or improved customer experience (54%). As with AI generally, early value often comes from internal use cases, but customer-facing cases are rising fast.

The danger here is in settling for too little. Companies that stop at pilot projects will soon find themselves outpaced by competitors willing to redesign how work gets done. Forty-six percent of respondents say they are concerned their company may be falling behind competitors in adopting AI agents.

Yet we see few companies moving early to define the future, building new operating models that integrate and orchestrate multiple AI agents — across vendors, functions and lines of business.

3. People are the problem — and the solution

Right now, people — including senior leaders — are holding AI agents back. When we look at the top-ranked challenges survey respondents cited (34% each), they strike us mostly as safe excuses. Cybersecurity concerns? AI agents can be made secure. Cost? A well-designed implementation can pay for itself and then some within months. The real challenges that we see are those that were ranked at the bottom of the list and are rooted in organizational change: the ability to connect AI agents across applications and workflows (19%), organizational change to keep pace with AI (17%) and employee adoption (14%).

Your people can help accelerate AI — once they see how AI agents amplify their impact. Whether agents are running in the background to streamline tasks or actively responding to commands to gather insights, solve problems and get work done, they expand human capacity, speed and reach. But this shift doesn’t happen on its own. It takes leaders rethinking strategy, redesigning workflows and actively bringing employees into the mix. Workforce strategy is a key component, with 67% of executives agreeing that AI agents will drastically transform existing roles within the next 12 months, and 48% saying that they will likely increase headcount due to the change AI agents will bring to how we work.

Another barrier to progress is a lack of trust in AI agents. Twenty-eight percent of respondents ranked it a top-three challenge. When asked which tasks they trusted AI agents to handle, respondents expressed the highest levels of trust in areas like data analysis (38%), performance improvement (35%) and daily collaboration with human team members (31%). But trust dropped sharply for higher-stakes activities like financial transactions (20%) and autonomous employee interactions (22%). The takeaway? A responsible AI approach that specifically addresses the risks of AI agents isn’t optional, it’s essential. Companies need to actively manage risk to unlock value and embed trust into their AI strategies from the start.

4. Only a few businesses have their eyes on the prize

Eighteen percent of respondents say their companies aren’t using AI agents at all. Their top-ranked reason for holding back? A lack of clear use cases or business value. To be blunt, that’s a failure of vision.

Among companies already using AI agents, the value is tangible — and growing. More than half of companies are actively using or planning to use agents in the next six months across functions like customer service (57%), sales and marketing (54%) and IT and cybersecurity (53%).

As we’ve seen with our clients, success in one area often sparks rapid expansion into others. One major retail company, for example, began by using AI agents to cut software development cycle times and reduce production errors by half or more. From there, it scaled across HR, finance, supply chain and marketing.

At the same time, 50% of respondents agree that their operating model will be unrecognizable in two years because of AI agents. Another surprise? Just 44% are developing new agentic products and services — where we expect to see a great deal of activity.

In our experience, only a few companies have truly started to reinvent themselves. These AI leaders are adopting AI-driven strategic planning that gathers and analyzes data continuously. They’re equipping entry-level workers with AI so they can equal the performance of experienced specialists. They’re shifting staff to new areas as AI agents automate traditional tasks. They’re changing capital allocations. And they’re always looking for new ways to integrate humans and AI agents.

What to do right now: Take the lead with AI agents

AI agents can do a lot today — and even more tomorrow — but only if you use them as a catalyst for change. That means moving beyond pilots and point solutions to reimagine how your business runs. Here’s how to lead with impact in the AI era.

• Get off the bench. There’s no excuse to remain experimenting or waiting-and-seeing. Right now, AI agents can help deliver near-term value that pays for next steps and starts you on a virtuous cycle of rising productivity and revenue.
• Rethink offense and defense. AI agents (and AI generally) are eroding longstanding competitive advantages and can enable companies to achieve traditional scale benefits through AI agents. It’s time to rethink business strategy so you can both enter new markets and safeguard what you have.
• Focus on people. As a technology, AI agents are ready to deliver. What can set companies apart is focusing on reimagining your work, workforce and workers — reimagining everything you do to leverage AI agents and inspire workers to reinvent their roles.
• Orchestrate and integrate. Using a few AI agents in isolation won’t move the needle. Agentic organizations require an operating system, like PwC’s agent OS, to orchestrate multiple agents from multiple vendors across complex business processes.
• Design trust in. As AI agents advance, they’ll be doing more work and making more decisions autonomously. To drive stakeholder trust, build your AI agent strategy on a responsible AI foundation.

About the survey

Between April 22 and April 28, 2025, PwC surveyed 308 US business executives with C-suite (33%), vice president (13%) and director-level (54%) roles across industries.