Genpact's 2026 survey found a wide gap between reported AI-agent deployment and financial accountability, raising questions about whether companies can judge adoption's returns across their businesses.
The company's Autonomy in Practice research found that 79% of respondents reported AI agents in production, while 15% said they fully connected AI value metrics to specific profit-and-loss (P&L) lines. Respondents estimated that an average of 49% of AI initiatives funded in the previous 24 months had delivered their expected value.
Genpact surveyed 2,005 senior enterprise decision-makers across 17 industries and 14 business functions. The companies represented had annual revenue from $1 billion to $50 billion or more, and the research also included in-depth interviews. Genpact said the findings were self-reported and percentages rounded.
The survey found that 20% of respondents said their organizations used agents broadly and consistently across functions. Only 9% reported completing significant operating-model transformation. Genpact said changes to work organization and financial accountability have lagged behind adoption.
The company calls its proposed approach “Agentic Operations.” It places people and AI agents within governed workflows and calls for measuring the value they produce. Genpact said respondents it identifies as “AI Leaders” were further along in redesigning work, assigning responsibility for human-agent operations and linking AI results to financial outcomes.
The survey's production category may cover different kinds of use. In an interview with Newsweek, Genpact research lead Elena Christopher said respondents could count chatbot or copilot use, even when systems were not carrying out work across departments. Genpact's announcement did not provide a more detailed threshold for the category.
“Enterprises have become effective at deploying AI agents. Running them is the hard part,” Genpact Chief Technology and Innovation Officer Sanjeev Vohra said in the company's announcement.
Among respondents whose organizations had agents in production, 92% said human headcount had stayed roughly level or increased. The survey did not identify a forthcoming decision or indicator tied to its findings.
