Signal 68 percent expect to reach the highest level of AI adoption by end 2026

Summary

KPMG reports that 68 percent of technology executives expect their organizations to reach the highest stage of AI adoption by the end of 2026. That top stage means deploying AI use cases into production at scale and earning returns across several of them. The forecast stands out because the share of firms actually at that stage dropped by 7 percentage points compared with the previous survey. The report describes this as continued confidence in exponential AI gains despite a setback. It leaves open whether such expectations can be met, given persistent barriers such as skills shortages and technical debt.