Scaling the agentic enterprise with confidence

Insights from 500 global CTOs on operationalizing AI at scale and what separates the organizations that are succeeding from those stuck in pilot purgatory. 

Enterprise ambition for AI has never been higher — yet C-suite confidence in executing that ambition continues to slip. The gap between expectation and delivery is widening, and the reasons are more structural than technological. 

AI agents — systems capable of planning, making decisions and executing tasks autonomously — have become the leading technology trend shaping enterprises in 2026, surpassing generative AI, digitization and even talent scarcity. The shift from AI as a tool to AI as an active participant in work is raising entirely new questions around governance and accountability. 

For the first time in the three-year history of this research, CTOs have ranked innovation ahead of operational efficiency as their top priority for digital investment. This signals a fundamental reorientation in how organizations define the value of AI — from cost lever to growth engine. 

CTOs report that AI is currently reshaping work more through changes in skills and activities than through large-scale job loss. They note a fundamental shift in what work looks like, creating a new design challenge for the hybrid human–AI enterprise.

A new diagnostic framework reveals three distinct archetypes — Task Automators, Pilot Operators and Enterprise Orchestrators. Most organizations recognize themselves in more than one, but consistently operate in none. The gap between intention and execution is where AI progress stalls. 

48% 

CTO confidence in scaling AI — down from 82% in 2024 

40% 

CTOs name Agentic AI as a top-three organizational megatrend

57%

CTOs already using AI to allocate tasks between humans and machines 

50% 

CTOs report AI-driven changes in workforce skills (compared to only 21% reporting workforce headcount reductions)

The 2026 What CTOs Think report reveals where organizations sit on the AI maturity curve and what it takes to move from experimentation to enterprise-wide impact. Benchmark your progress against 500 CTOs and uncover the key actions driving successful AI scale.

While AI investment continues to grow, CTO confidence in scaling AI has fallen from 82% in 2024 to 48% in 2026. Discover the barriers behind this gap—and the strategies leading organizations are using to overcome them. 

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