October 2025
PYMNTS Data Books

Agentic AI Finds a Foothold in the Automated Enterprise

Enterprises are flirting with the future and keeping their distance. AI agents are making their way into corporate pilots, but the doors to real decision making remain locked. What happens when automation learns to act on its own?

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    PYMNTS Intelligence surveyed 60 chief product officers at United States companies with at least $1 billion in 2024 revenue between August 7, 2025, and August 22, 2025. The results show agentic AI use is moving from pitch to pilot, with adoption clustered in firms that are already highly automated. Most leaders start with outside help and keep agents away from core systems.

    Agentic AI Adoption

    Automation as a Prerequisite

    One in four companies with high automation are already running agentic AI. Adoption of the technology is far thinner in organizations that haven’t automated core workflows, signaling maturity as the on-ramp.

    Services Sector Pushing Forward

    Services firms are testing agentic AI the fastest: 39.1% are exploring adoption within the next 12 months, and 4.3% have pilots underway. Most of the sector is experimenting, rather than scaling.

    Goods Sector Shows Reluctance

    More than half of goods companies—55.6%—say they have no plans to adopt the technology. Some 7.4% are exploring adoption in the next 12 months, and 37% are considering adoption but have no definitive timeline.

    Vendor Reliance

    Nine in 10 product leaders—90.9%—are partnering with external AI vendors or consultants to implement agentic AI. The near-term posture is buy, not build.

    Agentic AI Training Gap

    Only 18.2% of enterprises are training staff to work alongside agentic systems. Skills investment is lagging behind the rush to pilots and vendor engagements.

    Priorities in the Use of Agentic AI

    The top stated use is report and deliverable generation (24.2%), followed by product ideation/design (21.2%) and user testing (18.2%). Early wins target document and workflow output.

    Trust Bottleneck

    Ninety-eight percent of leaders say they are not willing to give agents action-level access to core systems. Even among highly automated firms, only one in four would allow limited access, while three in four refuse any access.

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    PYMNTS INTELLIGENCE

    PYMNTS Intelligence is a leading global data and analytics platform that uses proprietary data and methods to provide actionable insights on what’s now and what’s next in payments, commerce and the digital economy. Its team of data scientists includes leading economists, econometricians, survey experts, financial analysts and marketing scientists with deep experience in the application of data to the issues that define the future of the digital transformation of the global economy. This multi-lingual team has conducted original data collection and analysis in more than three dozen global markets for some of the world’s leading publicly traded and privately held firms.

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