With agentic AI promising to make or break companies in the years ahead, but so much uncertainty flowing from every direction in today’s economy, can we expect executives to advance cautiously around familiar roadblocks on AI — or hit the accelerator for a first-mover advantage?

The latest EY US AI Pulse Survey reveals that leaders are ready to spend, with about half of respondents saying, perhaps dubiously, that their organization is currently leveraging agentic AI, a term that now encompasses almost everything.

About 21% of senior leaders whose organizations are investing in AI say their organizations have currently invested $10 million or more in AI, jumping up from 16% just a year ago. But 35% say they expect to spend that much on AI next year — a massive vote of confidence in the technology’s ability to deliver transformative value.

This most recent survey indicates that 97% of senior leaders in organizations investing in AI are experiencing positive returns on investment (ROI) across various business functions. Furthermore, the survey highlights that the actual amounts of ROI achieved are significantly larger for those organizations allocating 5% or more of their total budget to AI, compared to those spending less.