The companies actually making money from AI all have one thing in common – and it’s not how much they’re spending
Only 8% of companies have established a clear return on investment from AI, even though 95% now have a formal AI strategy, and the average organisation plans to spend $186 million on the technology over the next 12 months.
Yet a small but growing group, roughly 11% of organisations, are pulling far ahead. This is according to KPMG’s new Global AI Pulse survey of 2,110 C-suite executives and their direct reports across 20 countries and eight sectors.
The data shows that the companies successfully making money from AI have redesigned their enterprises to orchestrate AI as a coordinated, enterprise-wide operating system.
“Learning from the AI leaders, unlocking value requires enterprises to be designed to operate with AI as an orchestrated, enterprise-wide system,” the group said.
The widening gap between activity and impact
KPMG’s first-quarter 2026 survey shows AI adoption is no longer the bottleneck. Nearly 40% of organisations are now scaling the technology or driving adoption across the enterprise. Two-thirds (64%) report that AI is already delivering “meaningful business value.”
But that value rarely shows up in the bottom line.
Only 8% have established ROI. More than half of companies (54%) remain stuck in early-stage experimentation, research, or planning.
The problem, the report concludes, isn’t AI itself but the enterprise. Without these foundations, organisations risk scaling activity rather than impact, the group warns.
What AI leaders actually do differently
KPMG defines AI leaders as the organisations that combine three things: advanced maturity in scaling AI, measurable business outcomes, and the ability to operate AI across workflows and decision-making at enterprise scale.
Some of the key things that these companies have in common include:
- They treat AI as an operating model, not a tool. AI leaders align workflows, data, decision-making, and systems so AI can function as a coordinated capability rather than a collection of isolated experiments. They are far more likely to deploy multi-agent systems that coordinate across functions instead of automating single tasks.
- They embed governance as a growth enabler, not a checkbox. 81% of AI leaders say they have the capabilities and governance in place to manage AI risk at scale, compared with 63% of others. They build trust, transparency, and human oversight into how AI operates, rather than treating responsible AI as a separate compliance exercise.
- They invest heavily in their people. Organisations confident in their AI talent pipeline are nearly four times more likely to report meaningful business outcomes. AI leaders report significantly higher confidence in their workforce readiness.
- They use AI for growth, not just cost-cutting. AI leaders are more likely to prioritise revenue generation through new products, services, and customer experiences. They also show far greater confidence in measuring impact – nearly half (48%) are “very confident” they can track revenue generated by AI, compared with 27% of non-leaders.
“The first Global AI Pulse results reinforce that spending more on AI is not the same as creating value,” said Steve Chase, Global Head of AI and Digital Innovation at KPMG International.
“Leading organisations are moving beyond enablement, deploying AI agents to reimagine processes and reshape how decisions and workflow across the enterprise. But ultimately, there is no agentic future without trust and no trust without governance that keeps pace.”
