McKinsey: only 37% of firms see EBIT gains from AI as agents blow budgets

According to McKinsey's Technology Trends Outlook 2026, 89% of companies use AI regularly, but only 37% report a positive EBIT impact. A single agentic workflow needs 5–30 times more compute than a typical chatbot query, pushing 93% of surveyed firms over their AI budgets.

• 89% of companies use AI, but only 37% see EBIT gains
• Agentic workflows need 5–30x more compute than chatbot queries
• 93% of respondents exceeded AI budgets due to agents
• Productivity fell at 30% of firms after adopting coding agents