AI agent deployment at major U.S. organizations has entered a period of hyper-growth, with workplace culture and management strategies evolving just as rapidly, according to the latest KPMG Q3 2025 AI Quarterly Pulse Survey. In just six months, the share of organizations with deployed artificial intelligence agents quadrupled from 11% to 42%, according to the survey of 130 U.S.-based C-suite and business leaders representing organizations with annual revenue of $1 billion or more.
At the same time, according to Rahsaan Shears, principal and aIQ program lead at KPMG U.S., the third quarter is when people’s approach to the technology fundamentally shifted. The “fear factor” was gone as more people actually worked with these tools, she said, and in its place a “cognitive fatigue” emerged. Echoing this sentiment, the KPMG report highlights a dramatic drop in employee resistance—from 47% last quarter to just 21% now. Over half of the workforce now either accepts or actively embraces AI agents. Technology departments lead the charge, with 95% reporting agent usage for productivity gains, followed closely by operations and risk management.
