AI Adoption & Impact Benchmarks 2026

Overview

An in-depth analysis of AI adoption and software delivery performance across 1,800+ engineering teams, revealing how AI is impacting delivery speed, quality, productivity, and engineering workflows.

4 Key takeaways

• AI delivers significantly larger improvements among lower-performing engineering teams.

• Most organisations are still using AI in “basic assist” mode rather than deeply embedding it into workflows.

• AI adoption alone doesn’t guarantee success - constraints in process, workflow, and governance still limit performance.

• Leading organisations treat AI adoption as a structured transformation challenge, not just a tooling rollout.

The Definitive Guide to AI Adoption in Engineering

The AI Adoption & Impact Benchmarks combine qualitative research with quantitative benchmark data to understand how engineering organisations are adopting AI and what impact it is having on delivery performance.

Drawing on research from 136 engineering leaders and benchmark analysis across 1,800+ engineering teams, the report explores AI adoption patterns, delivery outcomes, workflow constraints, and the operational behaviours separating high-performing organisations from the rest.