McKinsey State of AI 2025: Only 6% Are Turning AI Into Profit

AI isn't an adoption problem. It's a decision-making problem.

McKinsey's The State of AI in 2025, based on a survey of 1,993 executives across 105 countries, surfaces an uncomfortable truth.

88% of companies use AI. Only 6% have actually turned it into profit.

Just 39% of respondents attribute any EBIT impact to their use of AI — and for most of them, that impact sits below 5%. Only about 6% of companies reported both 5%+ EBIT impact and "significant value" from AI. McKinsey calls them AI High Performers.

What the 6% are doing differently

According to McKinsey, what sets High Performers apart is not their technology. It's how they make decisions.

1. They aim for growth, not just efficiency. While most companies frame AI as a cost-cutting lever, High Performers set growth and innovation as explicit objectives alongside efficiency. They are 3.6x more likely than their peers to pursue transformational change through AI over the next three years.

2. They redesign processes around AI — not bolt AI onto existing ones. 55% of High Performers say they have fundamentally redesigned workflows as part of their AI deployments. That's roughly three times the rate of everyone else.

3. They invest in AI with conviction. More than one-third of High Performers allocate over 20% of their digital budgets to AI.

What it means

Adopting AI is no longer a differentiator. The real question is whether AI sits at the center of how your company makes decisions — and whether those decisions are integrated deeply enough to reshape your profit structure.

While 94% of companies remain stuck in pilots, the 6% are rebuilding AI as part of their profit architecture.

Read the full report : The State of AI in 2025: Agents, innovation, and transformation →