Gen AI adoption is now mainstream, according to a new survey of business leaders by Capgemini, a global tech consultancy.
Harnessing the value of AI: Unlocking scalable advantage, the third edition in the Capgemini Research Institute’s annual research series on AI technologies, explores strategies for how organizations can scale AI implementation responsibly, ethically, and effectively.
The research brief is based on findings from a global survey of 1,100 leaders at organizations with annual revenue above $1 billion across 15 countries.
Key findings include:
- Gen AI adoption is now mainstream, surging from 6% in 2023 to 30% in 2025. Today, 93% of organizations are exploring or enabling Gen AI capabilities – yet while benefits are rising, cost concerns persist.
- AI agents are gaining ground, with 14% of organizations implementing them at partial or full scale, and 23% running pilots. Of the organizations already scaling AI agents, nearly 45% are piloting or scaling multi-agent systems.
- AI is evolving from tool to teammate. Nearly six in 10 organizations are planning to integrate AI as augmenting or autonomous collaborators within the next year – yet most are underprepared for this shift.
- Trust and governance are lagging: 71% of organizations say they cannot fully trust autonomous AI agents for enterprise use. While 46% have governance policies in place, adherence remains low.
- AI’s environmental impact is under scrutiny. Only one in five organizations measures its Gen AI environmental footprint, though sustainability measures – like using smaller task-specific models – are gaining traction.
“As organizations shift from isolated pilots to enterprise-wide deployments of generative and agentic AI, they are unlocking transformative benefits in innovation and productivity. But mainstream adoption is bringing new challenges related to cost containment, workforce adaptation, governance, and sustainability,” explained the report.
“AI is in transition. The technology is moving from isolated pilots to sweeping, mainstream adoption at an unprecedented pace. Organizations are unlocking remarkable benefits, from accelerated innovation to transformative productivity gains. But this breakneck expansion also brings challenges such as cost containment, workforce adaptation, and governance complexities, with a growing emphasis on ethical, sustainable, trustworthy, and sovereign AI.”
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