AI agents are syphoning cash to vendors, but most enterprises can’t measure the benefits
Are AI agents designed to syphon money out of unwary enterprises and into the coffers of their makers? That’s the implied underying question in a new report from the Capgemini Research Institute. But the answer – implicit in September 2026 research among 500 CXOs in $1 billion-plus enterprises across 13 industries in ten countries – seems clear: yes.
Or at least, that is what they are doing – measurably, and in every respect.
The report, The Cost of Intelligence: Governing AI Economics in the Agentic Enterprise, finds that costs are spiralling in many organizations, with governance, insight, and audit trails remarkably thin on the ground.
Roughly 60% of the respondents exceeded their AI budgets this year, by an average of 24%, with over one-fifth (21%) overshooting planned expenditure by more than 30%, notes the report.
Two-thirds of those that crashed their AI budgets faced negative financial consequences as a...
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