Only 6% of firms clear McKinsey's AI ROI bar

McKinsey’s 2026 survey of 1,719 business leaders found that 37% of respondents attribute at least some EBIT impact to AI, but only 6% meet its definition of an AI high performer—attributing at least 5% of EBIT to AI and calling the impact significant—according to The Register’s report on the study. The same survey says 40% of organizations with more than $1 billion in revenue are scaling agents, while 20% say AI operating costs constrain use. Operators should measure workflow redesign and realized margin, not adoption counts, extending the archive’s analysis of who actually captures enterprise AI value.