2nd
Annual edition
Data & AI Monitor: 2nd Edition
AI Adoption Is No Longer the Question
The Data & AI Monitor is Xebia’s annual research report on how organizations adopt, scale, and get value from Data & AI. Based on insights from 649 Data & AI professionals worldwide, the 2026 edition reveals a growing gap between AI adoption and business value.
649
Respondents worldwide
56
Survey questions
The Adoption-to-Value Gap in Numbers
Using AI tools has become the easy part of the adoption journey but turning them into measurable business results is where most organizations get stuck.
Working with Generative AI assistants
Believe they’re fully harvesting the value
Adoption is no longer the problem. Most teams already work with Generative AI assistants every day, yet fewer than half of them believe they are getting the full value out of it. Closing that gap is where the real opportunity lies.
What's preventing organizations from turning AI into business value?
The data points to three areas where organizations get stuck between using AI and getting value from it.
Data Foundation Is Still Holding Organizations Back
Most organizations are not ready for agents that act without a person checking each step.
- Cite data quality as the biggest barrier to AI adoption 36%
- Now cite legacy systems as a barrier, a brand-new entrant on this year’s list 27%
- Have fully automated data ingestion and transfer 21%
Data quality remains the biggest barrier to AI adoption. The automated, consolidated infrastructure needed to address it often hasn't been built. Moving data to new infrastructure doesn't solve the problem if the underlying quality, governance, and structure remain unchanged.
Digital Sovereignty: More Concern Than Action
Most organizations worry about who controls their data and AI, but very few have turned that concern into a plan.
-
78%
Are dependent or highly dependent on third-party vendors such as cloud providers
-
77%
Believe Big Tech holds too much power in Data & AI, up from 61% in 2025
-
#2
Sovereign AI: the surprise runner-up among this year’s top trends, just behind AI agents
-
14%
Have moved past exploring digital sovereignty into concrete action
Control is about what an organization chooses to manage directly, and where it accepts dependency. As AI moves from pilots into business-critical decisions organizations need to know where their data and models run, which dependencies they accept, and what happens when a provider becomes available.
The AI Literacy Gap Is Narrowing
The one gap in this report that’s actually shrinking.
Current AI knowledge (avg, 1–10)
6.3 in 2026
5.8 in 2025
Desired AI knowledge (avg, 1–10)
7.9 in 2026
7.6 in 2025
Gap
1.6 in 2026
1.8 in 2025
Desired AI knowledge continues to rise every year. What's closing the gap is organizational readiness: where organizations make sustained investments in their people AI literacy is improving.
What the Data & AI Monitor 2026 Covers
The Data & AI Monitor 2026 goes beyond these headline findings, looking at where organizations stand today, what’s changed since 2025, and what leaders should prioritize next.
- Where AI adoption is delivering value, and where it isn’t
- What’s holding back data foundations and AI agents
- How organizations are responding to digital sovereignty concerns
- How AI literacy and workforce readiness are evolving
- What has changed since the 2025 edition
- What leaders can do to close the gaps
What leaders should do next
Closing the gap takes more than new tools. These are the practical steps leaders can take now to turn AI ambition into measurable business outcomes.
Lead for Value
Give every AI use case clear ownership, decision rights, and a measurable definition of success before development begins.
Focus on Data Foundation
Improve data quality, automation, and governance before scaling AI further. A modern data stack it's the prerequisite for everything else on this list.
Design for Sovereignty
Know where your data and models run. Decide which dependencies are acceptable and build the ability to change direction without rebuilding everything.
Build Capability by Role
Train leaders, employees, and developers differently, the skills a knowledge worker needs to use AI safely aren't the skills a developer needs to build with it.
Data & AI Benchmark by Xebia
Data & AI Monitor Hub
Annual research tracking how organisations adopt, scale, and extract real value from Data & AI. Explore previous findings by sector, compare benchmarks year on year, and see where your organisation stands.
Data & AI Monitor: 2nd Edition
Get The Report to See Where Organizations Stand.
Research Partners
Data Expo
The platform where data and AI professionals come together to share knowledge, ideas and innovations. A two-day event focused on connection, inspiration and practical solutions.
About the Data & AI Monitor
The Data & AI Monitor is an annual research report by Xebia and Data Expo. Together, we survey Data & AI professionals to track how organizations adopt, scale and get value from Data & AI, and how this changes from year to year.
The 2026 edition is based on responses from 649 Data & AI professionals worldwide. Respondents work at organizations of every size, from under 50 employees (29%) to 5,000 or more (24%). Most are based in the Netherlands (63%), followed by the United States (14%) and Germany (6%). The largest industries are Technology & Software (24%), Professional Services (13%), Financial Services (11%) and Public Services & Education (10%). Roles range from C-suite (19%) to data engineering, strategy, consultancy and IT.
