90% of Companies Use AI. Only 37% Can Point to Any EBIT Impact From It.

McKinsey’s latest growth research puts a number on the gap between AI adoption and AI payoff: 90% of companies now use AI in at least one business function, but only 37% can attribute any EBIT impact to it. The performance split downstream of that gap is stark — 60% of market leaders report double-digit revenue growth, versus just 21% of laggards. McKinsey credits the leaders with converting adoption into results through concrete moves: Reckitt unlocked more than $500 million in new revenue through AI-powered pricing simulations, and DBS Bank generated hundreds of millions by rewiring operations around AI capabilities rather than bolting AI onto existing workflows. The report names seven myths it says are holding the other 63% back — among them that AI is mainly a productivity tool, that CTOs should own AI transformation alone, and that scaling AI is primarily a technology rollout rather than an operating-model change. Its three immediate recommendations: assess AI growth opportunities in days rather than months, set bold and measurable outcome targets, and mobilize dedicated cross-functional teams instead of layering AI onto the org chart as-is.

Gartner’s CFO research points at a concrete reason so many companies land on the wrong side of that 90%-versus-37% gap: where the money actually goes. A March 2026 survey of 204 finance leaders found 45% of CFOs say their AI investment leans toward productivity and efficiency, while only 20% say it leans toward improving decision quality. Gartner found functions that invested in what it calls “Upend” initiatives — projects creating new value propositions, products, or markets — were more than twice as likely to report high realized value than productivity-only spend. Reckitt’s pricing simulations and DBS’s operational rewiring are Upend bets, not efficiency plays; McKinsey’s 37% and Gartner’s 20% describe roughly the same minority.

The takeaway for anyone selling into this gap: “we use AI” stopped being a differentiator the moment 90% of the market could say it too. The companies converting adoption into revenue are the ones that treated AI as a bet on new value, not a tool for doing the old work slightly faster.