Corporate AI-agent adoption is still shallow even in its strongest setting. Stanford's 2026 AI Index reports that among technology-sector business functions, McKinsey's 2025 survey found the highest share of organizations reaching 'scaled' AI-agent use — routine, broad deployment rather than pilots — was in software engineering, at Software engineering leads tech-sector AI-agent use at 24% scaled deployment, ahead of IT (22%) and service ops (21%)
Verified 2026-09-06
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- 44% of US firms using AI report it augmenting workers' existing tasks rather than replacing them, versus just 5% reporting AI substituting tasks outright, according to Census Bureau research on business AI adoption 44%
- The Census Bureau's Business Trends and Outlook Survey found AI adoption climbing fastest among big employers: as of May 2026, 37% of firms with 250+ employees used AI vs 32% for 100-249 employees and under 20% for the smallest firms
- The Census Bureau's Business Trends and Outlook Survey also breaks AI adoption down by industry — in the wave ending 3 May 2026, the Information sector (telecom, media, tech services) led every US industry, with 39.7% of firms using AI, more than double the 19.8% national average