It’s happening now — fast and furiously. The AI revolution is accelerating toward systems capable of both collaborating with humans in unprecedented ways and making autonomous decisions. Protiviti’s latest AI Pulse Survey shows nearly one in four organizations (23%) has already integrated agentic AI and multiagent AI into core operations, and another 27% plan to do so within six months. At the executive leadership levels, C-suite and board members are more inclined to support AI-driven decision-making than employees at lower levels.  

As we wrap up our series of AI Pulse surveys for 2025, there are key messages to remember: Organizations are generally ambitious about AI systems, including agentic AI, but many are still building the governance, infrastructure, skillsets and ethical frameworks needed to be effective. It’s essential that they remain grounded in the realities of technological maturity, regulatory constraints and the importance of human oversight. Speed and agility, investment in clean and secure data, and effective governance will remain key going forward.

Notable findings include:  

• Semiautonomous AI agents are the current preferred choice. Across industries, 38% prefer semiautonomous agents or systems acting within defined limits.
• Organizations are already seeing the benefits. Agentic AI is streamlining decision-making, automating routine tasks and enhancing real-time insights.
• Uses vary based on AI maturity. More mature organizations are expanding the use of agentic AI into strategic planning, fraud detection and compliance-driven functions.  
• AI maturity defines agentic AI preparedness. AI maturity is a strong predictor of agentic AI readiness, with stages 4 and 5 organizations leading the charge in the categories of already integrated and planned integration within six months.