What happened
KPMG's Global AI Pulse Survey for Q3 2026, based on 2,131 senior leaders across 20 countries and published 24 September 2026, finds 62% of organizations are now building, deploying or developing AI agents (up from 53% last quarter), with work on multi-agent systems climbing to 25% from 6% in the last two quarters. Confidence in governing AI at scale jumped to 73% of leaders (from 57%), while 74% now include cost reviews in AI approval processes and 49% have defined high-risk use cases where autonomous decision-making by agents is not allowed. Average planned AI investment over the next 12 months rose to US$210 million (from US$186 million in Q1), the regional AI-maturity gap halved to eight points, and 55% operate a formal AI harness layer. Notably, only 12% consistently assess AI value against its cost — rising to 48% among organizations already reporting returns.
Why it matters
Provides board-ready, cross-region benchmarks for agent deployment, governance maturity, cost discipline and ROI measurement as enterprises scale from pilots to production-grade AI.
Action needed
Stress-test your AI portfolio against these peers: verify cost-attribution sits in approval gates, governance confidence is measured, and value is assessed against cost quarterly.