AI tools gain traction while fully autonomous agents remain rare in business

A Gartner survey of more than 3,500 B2B and B2C customers found that consumers are three times more likely to use third‑party generative AI tools than brand‑owned chatbots for customer service, with usage of those tools doubling in the past year. No statistical increase in the use of company‑provided chatbots has been observed since 2022, prompting analysts to advise brands to focus on intentional adoption strategies and improve chatbot action and presentation.

In the accounting sector, a panel at an Earmark webinar highlighted that AI agents are being deployed for tasks such as inbox management, Excel automation, dashboard creation and report generation, but fully autonomous agents in production are still limited. Research cited by Bain & Company shows only 7% of organizations run fully autonomous AI agents, and Gartner points to insufficient data context as a major barrier. Firms are beginning with rule‑based, spreadsheet‑heavy workflows before expanding AI use.

Both discussions underscore growing interest in generative AI across business functions, while the rollout of truly autonomous agents remains constrained by adoption challenges and data limitations.