AI Agents Will Form 36% of Core Tech Teams by 2027, KPMG Finds

AI agents will form 36% of core technology teams by 2027, up from 28% in 2025, according to KPMG’s January 2026 Global Tech Report. The same survey, built from responses of 2,500 technology executives across 27 countries, splits the field into a clear winner-loser divide: organizations leading on technology maturity, process maturity, and value report an average ROI of 4.5x on AI investments, more than double the 2x industry average.

The 36% projection is the most concrete number from the report, but the gap behind it is the real story. Organizations expect 42% of their tech workforce to remain permanent human staff by 2027, only a five-point drop from the 2025 baseline, while 53% say they still lack the talent needed to deliver their digital transformation plans. The same companies adding AI agents are also the ones hunting for the people who can manage them.

What the KPMG Survey Measured

KPMG published the report on January 22, 2026 under the title “Leading in the Intelligence Age: Excelling today, shaping tomorrow.” It is built from a survey of 2,500 technology executives across 27 countries and territories, including 29% from Asia Pacific, 43% from Europe, the Middle East and Africa, and 28% from the Americas. Respondents came from eight industries: automotive, consumer and retail, energy, financial services, government, healthcare and life sciences, industrial manufacturing, and technology and telecommunications.

The survey sits alongside interviews with eight senior corporate leaders and professionals, all carried in the press release on KPMG’s Global Tech Report 2026. KPMG framed the central question of the report as whether ambition can match reality as organizations move from AI pilots into production. Expectations are high and adoption is rapid, KPMG said, but scaling introduces added complexity and returns vary widely. Eighty-eight percent of organizations are already investing in building agentic AI into their systems, the report shows.

Ninety-two percent of respondents expect managing AI agents to become an essential skill within the next five years, the report says. Sixty-eight percent of organizations aim to reach the highest level of AI maturity by the end of 2026, against only 24% who say they are there today.

The 36% Line and the Human Share

Digital assistants are projected to form 36% of core technology teams by 2027, up from 28% in 2025, according to the KPMG report. The shift is incremental rather than sudden, framed as a five-point reduction in permanent human share over two years. Organizations expect 42% of their tech workforce to remain permanent human staff by 2027.

The KPMG numbers at a glance:

• 36% of core tech teams will be AI agents by 2027
• 88% of organizations are investing in agentic AI
• 42% of tech workforce will remain permanent human staff by 2027
• 53% lack the talent to deliver digital transformation plans
• 24% achieve ROI across multiple AI use cases today

The picture sharpens when KPMG separates leaders from the rest. High-performing companies plan to retain 50% of their tech workforce as permanent human staff by 2027, eight points above the average. KPMG frames that as evidence that human expertise stays central to AI maturity, not as a hedge against agentic automation. The talent gap sits alongside the agent buildup: the same companies adding AI agents are also the ones hunting for people who can manage them.

Ninety-two percent of organizations surveyed anticipate that managing AI agents will become a critical skill within five years. The most successful organizations prioritize both technological advances and people, KPMG said, empowering employees to innovate and adapt. The figure rhymes with the report’s maturity framing: 68% of respondents aim to reach the highest level of AI maturity by the end of 2026, but only 24% are there today.

High Performers Pull Ahead at 4.5x

The clearest winner-loser split inside the report is on ROI. Organizations leading on technology maturity, process maturity, and value report an average ROI of 4.5x on AI investments, more than double the 2x industry average. Smaller firms post 3.6x, those with fewer cost pressures reach 2.6x, and transformation-focused organizations hit 3.2x.

ROI by organization segment, per KPMG:

Half of global tech leaders surveyed, 50%, expect to reach the highest level of technology maturity in 2026, against only 11% who say they are there today. The optimism comes from moving AI out of isolated experiments and into core systems, KPMG said. Seventy-four percent of respondents report their AI initiatives are creating measurable business value, including improved efficiency and reduced risk. Only 24% say they are scaling AI and achieving ROI across multiple use cases.

The implication is that most organizations see AI value but few have built repeatable, enterprise-wide returns. KPMG describes clear ROI “zones” emerging as maturity rises, from early quick wins to accelerating, enterprise-wide value. The pattern mirrors the earlier finding that 36% of core tech teams will be AI agents by 2027: investment is broad, but scaled return is still narrow.

Umesh Sachdev, co-founder and CEO of enterprise AI vendor Uniphore, told KPMG the gap shows up in leadership choices, not in AI access. The full detail of his point sits in the KPMG report itself, alongside the survey data on KPMG’s Global Tech Report 2026 findings page. The deployment of agentic AI in adjacent sectors, from retail merchandising to coding workflows, mirrors the same pattern the KPMG survey captures at executive level, as seen in how retailers are handing AI agents the merchant job.

Play Smaller, Move Faster

KPMG’s report gathers a small set of external voices to frame the data. The most cited remarks come from people outside the firm: a former OpenAI executive, an enterprise AI vendor CEO, and a strategist advising enterprises on agentic builds. Each lands at a different pressure point in the survey.

Companies that learn to use AI and AI agents and all these architectures effectively are likely to leave their peer groups behind.

Sachdev made the remark in the KPMG report, and added in the same passage that the question now comes down to the leadership of companies, departments, and teams. Uniphore has its own strategic relationship with KPMG to build AI agents, which gives the remark a vendor’s vantage point on the rollout.

Zack Kass, the former OpenAI Head of Go-to-Market now working as a global AI advisor, told KPMG the next phase will be defined by deployment rather than capability. “The future will not be defined by what machines can do. It will be defined by what we want machines to do,” Kass said. He added that companies would benefit from leaner teams and flatter organizational structures. “Play smaller, and you can be more forward-looking,” he said.

Noelle Russell, an AI solutions architect and strategic adviser quoted in the same report, recommended a selective build-versus-buy posture. “Pick the areas that you want to keep in-house for domain expertise, then choose trusted partners to fill in the gaps across your portfolio,” Russell said. Russell added that “paying attention to what you build means applying rigor and discipline to every model you select.”

The Quantum Blind Spot Underneath the AI Push

The KPMG report flags a quieter risk alongside the agentic build. Forty-one percent of executives told KPMG they worry they are falling behind in preparing for quantum-related encryption threats. The report grouped quantum computing and artificial superintelligence as longer-term concerns where most companies have not yet built readiness. The risk lands against a backdrop where 78% of organizations agree they must take more risks on emerging technologies to stay relevant.

Guy Holland, Global Leader of the CIO Center of Excellence at KPMG International, set the framing in the report. “We stand at the threshold of the Intelligence Age, a period defined by an unprecedented pace of innovation and profound uncertainty, where technology is no longer just a tool, but a force reshaping the very fabric of business and society,” Holland said. Holland added that AI is rewriting the rules of competition, quantum breakthroughs are on the horizon, and geopolitical uncertainty adds another layer of complexity. The 41% quantum figure sits in the same report that flags the 36% agent buildup, a pairing the survey surfaces but does not resolve.

Partnerships as the Default Strategy

The KPMG survey found that 90% of technology executives plan to expand partnerships with external providers to support AI implementation. The strategy fits a survey in which 53% of organizations say they still lack the talent to deliver their digital transformation plans. Nearly one-third of tech executives are planning to increase investment in centers of excellence that support cross-functional teams and controlled experimentation.

Where the partnership posture sits today:

• 90% plan to grow partnerships and tech ecosystems over the next year
• 88% are investing in agentic AI systems
• 74% report AI initiatives are creating measurable business value
• 53% lack the talent to deliver their digital transformation plans

Noelle Russell’s selective build-versus-buy advice sits between the 90% who will partner and the 53% who lack the talent to build internally: both pull in the same direction. Larger vendors are also moving into deployment: Microsoft’s June 2026 announcement of its enterprise AI agent rollout with KPMG, covered in Microsoft’s deal to deploy KPMG-built AI agents, is the kind of partnership the survey’s 90% figure is pointing at. The same shift is now reaching the HR layer, with firms like Accenture calling for AI agents to be managed as workforce members, as captured in Accenture’s call to manage AI agents like human workers.

KPMG cautioned in the press release that greater dependence on third parties heightens risks related to cybersecurity, governance, and data privacy. The agency-frame mirrors the 41% quantum readiness gap flagged in the same report.

Where the Bets Could Break

The KPMG report points to one specific scaling gap. Seventy-four percent of respondents say their AI use cases are delivering business value, but only 24% achieve ROI across multiple use cases. The gap between broad benefit and scaled return is the survey’s most quoted tension. Eighty-eight percent are investing in agentic AI, and 92% expect managing those agents to be a critical skill within five years; only a fraction has reached enterprise-wide returns.

Seventy-eight percent of organizations agree they must take more risks on emerging technologies to stay relevant, and the report names quantum computing and Artificial Superintelligence as the next horizon where most have not yet built readiness. Guy Holland’s Intelligence Age framing places AI, quantum, and geopolitical uncertainty into a single competitive frame, and the report’s central question is whether ambition can match reality as organizations move from AI pilots into production. The forward read, in KPMG’s terms, is that the same companies racing on AI agents now will also have to budget for the cryptography overhaul that quantum decryption pressure will demand.

Frequently Asked Questions

When will AI agents make up 36% of tech teams?

KPMG’s January 2026 Global Tech Report projects that digital assistants will form 36% of core technology teams by 2027, up from 28% in 2025. The figure comes from a survey of 2,500 technology executives across 27 countries.

How many organizations are investing in agentic AI?

Eighty-eight percent of the 2,500 executives surveyed by KPMG say their organizations have already begun investing in agentic AI technologies. Sixty-eight percent aim to reach the highest level of AI maturity by the end of 2026, against only 24% who say they are there today.

Why are some companies getting 4.5x ROI on AI while others lag?

KPMG’s report separates organizations by technology, process, and value maturity. Leaders across all three areas report an average ROI of 4.5x on AI investments, more than double the 2x industry average. Transformation-focused organizations post 3.2x, smaller firms 3.6x, and those with fewer cost pressures reach 2.6x.

What is KPMG’s Intelligence Age?

Guy Holland, Global Leader of the CIO Center of Excellence at KPMG International, framed the current moment as the Intelligence Age, defined by rapid AI advances, quantum breakthroughs, and geopolitical uncertainty. The KPMG Global Tech Report 2026 carries the subtitle Leading in the Intelligence Age: Excelling today, shaping tomorrow.

What is the talent situation for AI agent deployment?

Fifty-three percent of organizations surveyed say they still lack the talent needed to bring their digital transformation plans to life. Ninety-two percent anticipate that managing AI agents will become a critical skill within five years.