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WorkThe story, in brief

Bain study finds companies miss AI savings targets because humans keep getting in the way

40% of companies are missing AI savings targets by half. Here's why: they're still relying on humans instead of autonomous agents.

Reporting by The Decoder 1 min brief
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The KeyNews take

Why it matters

Enterprise AI ROI is stalling not because of technology limits, but because companies aren't deploying the autonomous workflows their business cases depend on. This is a critical gap between AI strategy and execution that boards need to see.

The key facts

4 to know

  1. 951 companies surveyed by Bain

  2. 40% achieved less than 10% AI cost savings vs. 11-20% target

  3. Only 7% actually run fully autonomous AI agents despite business cases assuming deployment

  4. Gap between planned and realized AI savings driven by human-in-the-loop constraints

Go to the source

The Decoderthe-decoder.com

Publisher excerpt: According to a Bain survey of 951 companies, almost 40 percent achieved less than 10 percent in AI cost savings, even though most had targeted 11 to 20 percent. One alleged reason is that only 7 percent actually run fully autonomous AI agents, even though their business cases assume exactly that.
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