Bain survey finds nearly 40 percent of companies achieve less than 10 percent AI cost savings despite targeting 11–20 percent

Bain & Company surveyed 951 companies on AI cost savings. Nearly 40 percent achieved less than 10 percent in savings, even though the most common target was 11 to 20 percent. However, 14 percent saved more than 21 percent, and 43 percent cleared 10 percent.

Only 7 percent of companies run fully autonomous AI agents, despite business cases assuming that level of automation. 32 percent loop in humans only when needed, while 38 percent still requires human approval—the most common setup. Data access remains the biggest hurdle, cited by 41 percent.

Nine out of ten companies plan to increase their AI investments anyway, especially in AI agents, despite current savings falling short of targets.