A global survey of corporate leaders suggests AI has crossed a major threshold inside the enterprise, as adoption of artificial intelligence hits a fever pitch.
In The State of AI in 2025 report, McKinsey gathered responses from 1,993 participants across 105 countries and a wide range of industries, roles and company sizes between June 25 and July 29, 2025.
McKinsey finds that AI is now present across nearly all industries, but deployment is not yet deeply embedded into core workflows or operating models.
“Nearly nine out of ten survey respondents say their organizations are regularly using AI—but the pace of progress remains uneven. While AI tools are now commonplace, most organizations have not yet embedded them deeply enough into their workflows and processes to realize material enterprise-level benefits.”
The firm highlights the adoption surge and rapid broadening of use cases, noting a remarkable increase in enterprise penetration over the past year.
“The share of respondents saying their organizations are using AI in at least one business function has increased since our research last year: 88% report regular AI use in at least one business function, compared with 78% a year ago.”
But the consulting firm says the gap between experimentation and scaled value remains wide, with most organizations early in their transformation journeys.
“Nearly two-thirds of respondents say their organizations have not yet begun scaling AI across the enterprise.”
The uneven progress helps explain why bottom-line gains are still limited at the enterprise level, even as individual departments begin to see impact.
“Meaningful enterprise-wide bottom-line impact from the use of AI continues to be rare, though our survey results suggest that thinking big can pay off.”
McKinsey says a very small cohort of companies, labeled “AI high performers,” is emerging, investing more and transforming workflows faster.
“Respondents who attribute EBIT impact of 5% or more to AI use and say their organization has seen ‘significant’ value from AI use—our definition of AI high performers, representing about 6% of respondents—report pushing for transformative innovation via AI, redesigning workflows, scaling faster, implementing best practices for transformation, and investing more.”
The firm also notes that a majority of organizations say AI is already accelerating innovation, signaling an early-stage compounding effect even before broad cost or margin gains emerge.
“64% say that AI is enabling their innovation.”
You can read the full report here.
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