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Gartner · September 2026

Gartner Survey Finds Only 22% of Organizations Have Successfully Scaled AI Across Multiple Business Units (press release)

Gartner's Gartner Survey Finds Only 22% of Organizations Have Successfully Scaled AI Across Multiple Business Units (press release) (September 2026; n=1,303, fielded Jan–Apr 2026) found that 22% of organizations have scaled AI across multiple business units or adopted an AI-first approach.

Read the original report ↗Cite2 min read · Summary updated
Outcomes functions targeted with AI in 2025Percent of functional leaders, multiple responses, 2026 survey
Improve productivity
75%
Reduce costs
55%
Increase revenue
39%
Evolve the enterprise
38%
Manage risks
34%
Retain revenue
33%
Transform the enterprise
33%
Foster resilience
29%
Source: Gartner, 2026 Gartner C-Suite AI Survey (press release), 2026, Figure 1.

Key findings

  1. 01
    85% of functional leaders plan to increase AI spending in 2026 after allocating an average 12% of functional budgets to AI in 2025.
  2. 02
    Roughly 11% of organizations were entirely unaware of what their function spent on AI in 2025.
  3. 03
    High performers that track ROI and cut underperforming projects reported positive returns on 81% of AI initiatives.

By the numbers

22%of organizations have scaled AI across multiple business units or adopted an AI-first approach
85%of functional leaders plan to increase AI spending in 2026
81%of AI initiatives delivered positive returns at high-performing organizations

What it means for you Draft

For executives at $10–100M companies

This sample starts at $50M in revenue, so it overlaps with the upper half of our audience. The practical lesson is basic bookkeeping: know what you spend on AI, tie each project to an outcome, and stop the ones that are not working. Most firms, even larger ones, are not yet doing this consistently.

Limitations

Medium trust.Reasonable sample with revenue floor and fieldwork dates disclosed; full method paywalled; Gartner sells AI advisory, not AI software.

About the publisher: Sells research subscriptions and advisory services.

The headline figure measures the “In core work” stage of adoption (running in key processes).Why adoption numbers disagree

Cite the original

Gartner. "Gartner Survey Finds Only 22% of Organizations Have Successfully Scaled AI Across Multiple Business Units (press release)." September 1, 2026. https://www.gartner.com/en/newsroom/press-releases/gartner-survey-finds-only-22-percent-of-organizations-have-successfully-scaled-ai-across-multiple-business-units

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