66%
of respondents reported no AI agent use in knowledge management, the lowest share of 11 functions (manufacturing: 91%)
What the chart shows
Asked about AI agents in McKinsey’s 2025 State of AI survey, at least 66% of respondents reported no use at all in each of 11 business functions. The lowest shares were in knowledge management (66%), marketing and sales (68%) and IT (69%).
Non-use was highest in manufacturing (91%), supply chain and inventory management (88%), and risk and strategy and corporate finance (85% each). Between 1% and 5% per function said they planned to use agents within a year.
Key numbers
| Measure | Value |
|---|---|
| Knowledge management | 66% |
| Marketing and sales | 68% |
| IT | 69% |
| Supply chain/inventory management | 88% |
| Manufacturing | 91% |
| Knowledge management, planning to use within a year | 5% |
How to read it
- The published data has three of the seven answers in the report’s chart: don’t know, not at all, and planning to use within a year. Experimenting, piloting, scaling and fully scaled are not in the data.
- Shares of respondents to McKinsey’s State of AI survey (2025), not of companies.
Source: McKinsey & Company Survey, 2025, via the AI Index Report 2026 (Stanford HAI), figure 4.3.8: Stage of AI agent use by business function, 2025. Chart and text by AI Adoption.
Numbers checked against the published data on 20 October 2026.
Download the data (CSV) · Cite this chart
Numbers checked against the published data on 20 October 2026.
Download the data (CSV) · Cite this chart
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