Boston Consulting Group (BCG) on Thursday published its “AI Radar 2026” report, saying global companies are sharply expanding AI investment despite economic uncertainty and are shifting AI into a core management task for chief executives.

The report said many CEOs see AI agents as already reaching a stage where they can deliver tangible results in the short term, and view AI capabilities as a standard that will determine corporate competitiveness.

Companies plan to double AI investment in 2026 from the previous year. Some 94 percent said they would continue investing in AI even if it does not deliver short-term results.

The survey covered 2,360 executives across 10 industries in 16 countries. It found 72 percent of CEOs said they are currently the key decision-maker on AI, and half said they believe AI strategy performance could directly affect job evaluations.

CEOs leading AI transitions were found to spend more than 8 hours a week strengthening their personal AI capabilities, while directly directing the formulation and execution of AI strategy.

Christoph Schweizer, BCG’s chief executive, said, “The fact that companies are expanding AI investment despite economic uncertainty shows AI has already moved to the centre of business strategy.” He said, “AI is no longer confined to IT or innovation departments, and has become a core task where the CEO directly leads overall strategy and operations.”

BCG said expanding AI investment and high CEO interest are not enough. It found that gaps in AI performance between companies depend not simply on whether they adopt the technology, but on organisations and talent that can turn it into competitiveness, and on strategies for using AI agents.

The report said companies leading AI transitions allocate 60 percent of AI budgets to upskilling and retraining existing staff. It said this is more than double the level of latecomers, suggesting that success or failure depends less on adoption itself than on building organisational capabilities to use it.

A clear difference also emerged in investment in AI agents. Leading companies are allocating more than half of their 2026 AI investment budgets to agent-based AI, and about 90 percent of CEOs expect AI agents to generate visible returns on investment in 2026. Reflecting those expectations, more than 30 percent of total AI investment this year was allocated to agent-based AI.

Sylvain Duranton, global leader of BCG X, said, “True competitive advantage comes not from improving individual functions, but from companies that redesign end-to-end processes and create new products and services.” He said, “9 out of 10 CEOs expect that by 2028, companies that properly use AI will be the standard for success, showing the market environment is already changing rapidly.”