Using digitised data, adopting AI and delegating work to agents are separate developments. Two UK government studies provide different snapshots, while a conference preview illustrates questions about responsibility for delegated work.
The adoption landscape for AI agents for UK businesses
The AI adoption study’s February–May 2025 fieldwork found agentic AI use among 7% of businesses already using AI. That figure has the adopter group as its base and is not a current percentage of all businesses. The report also describes difficulties defining agentic AI, which limits how confidently a broad label can be interpreted.
Roles and implementation timelines
TechCrunch’s linked page previews a conference discussion about work that might be delegated to agents and work that humans should own. It asks who checks output and takes responsibility when something fails. The page is an event promotion, not evidence that the session established a particular productivity result or that early-stage companies uniformly use agents in those roles.
Data handling foundations
The separate UK Business Data Survey, conducted from October 2025 to January 2026, reports that 86% of UK businesses handled digitised data. Handling digitised data is not equivalent to having the security, integration or operational capacity to deploy an agent. That survey’s scope and fieldwork differ from the AI adoption study, so the two figures should not be combined into a measured agent-readiness rate.
Sources and further reading
Learn about AI in HR at Disrupt 2026 | TechCrunch
https://techcrunch.com/2026/09/16/your-startups-next-teammate-might-be-an-ai-agent-gusto-insight-partners-and-leland-explain-what-that-changes-at-techcrunch-disrupt-2026/
AI adoption survey report 2025 (web version) - GOV.UK
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/ai-adoption-research/ai-adoption-research
UK Business Data Survey 2026 - GOV.UK
https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/uk-business-data-survey-2026/uk-business-data-survey-2026