McKinsey’s The State of AI in 2026: On the Road to ROI, published on 25 August 2026, finds that companies continue to increase investments in artificial intelligence and broaden its use, yet measurable financial returns—especially on EBIT—remain limited.
Key findings
- Eighty percent of respondents say AI has improved individual productivity, but only 37% report a positive impact on EBIT. This indicates that productivity gains do not automatically translate into improved corporate profitability.
- Only 6% of organizations qualify as AI leaders; these companies attribute at least 5% of their EBIT to AI and view the technology as a significant value creator.
- AI-leading firms are more than twice as likely to allocate over 15% of their IT (ICT) budget to AI compared with other organizations.
- Twenty-eight percent of organizations already devote more than 10% of their IT budget to AI, and 60% expect this investment to rise over the next 12 months.
- One in five respondents say that the costs of operating AI—including token costs—are already constraining usage of the technology.
- Thirty-two percent report that their organization decided not to purchase at least one software product or feature because it could be replaced internally with AI-based development tools.
Why ROI lags: redesigning workflows
McKinsey highlights that a key distinction between firms that realize meaningful AI-driven financial gains and those that do not is the extent of workflow transformation. Three-quarters of AI-leading companies have fundamentally redesigned how work is done, while only one-quarter of other organizations have taken similarly radical steps. The report concludes that AI returns depend far more on rethinking processes, operating models and work organization than on individual productivity improvements alone.
AI adoption and use
- Nearly nine in ten respondents regularly use AI in at least one business area.
- The share of respondents who say AI is widely adopted enterprise-wide rose to 44% from 38% last year.
- The share of organizations using AI in at least three business areas increased from 51% to 56%.
- Among firms with more than $1 billion in annual revenue, 54% reported enterprise-wide, broad AI use; for smaller firms the share is about one-third.
- The share of respondents in large firms who report broad use of AI agents rose from 27% to 40%; in smaller organizations it remained around 22%.
- About one in five respondents say their organization widely uses AI agents that support coding; among large firms this share is 31%.
Impact on workforce
- Thirty-nine percent expect headcount at their organization to decline over the next year because of AI, while 43% expect little or no change.
- Only 14% said AI played a role in headcount reductions at their organization over the past 12 months.
- Thirteen percent of respondents said AI makes them concerned about their own career prospects.
Hungary-specific estimate from Prompt Magyarország
McKinsey’s June publication Prompt Magyarország: a mesterséges intelligencia hatása a gazdaság versenyképességére reaches a similar conclusion. It estimates that AI-supported automation could unlock about €15 billion of economic value in Hungary by 2030, equivalent to roughly 6–7% of GDP. The report stresses this is not a direct GDP-growth forecast but an estimate of potential value from activities that could be partially or fully automated.
Conclusion
McKinsey’s 2026 analysis suggests that while AI investments and adoption continue to accelerate, measurable financial returns are concentrated among a small group of companies that have fundamentally reengineered workflows and operating models. Cost factors such as operating and token costs also limit broader deployment in some organizations.
