G2 Research Finds AI Agents Reach Production as Oversight Costs Rise
G2, the world’s largest and most trusted data source on B2B software, today published its 2026 AI Agents Report, titled “Crossing the Agentic Chasm,” which reveals where AI agents are delivering value, why some of those gains are eroding in production, and what businesses need to build trust and enable adoption at scale. Based on a survey of over 1,000 B2B decision makers, the report finds that 66% of B2B agent buyers now have agents in limited or scaled production, an 18% year-over-year increase. Yet, the productivity gains aren’t always keeping pace, as 45% say oversight and rework consume more than a quarter of expected gains. G2’s findings from its 2025 Agents Report identified the Trust Gap, which stems from a lack of trust in agents despite their high reliability. The 2026 report reveals that this Trust Gap has led to a Distrust Tax — the cost of operating agents under constrained trust. G2’s study indicates one-third of B2B organizations with agents in production spend at least 6 hours per week overseeing agent work, and 45% say oversight and rework consume more than a quarter of their expected productivity gains. For agents to reach mass market adoption, more evidence about how agents work in their systems, clear ownership, and cost controls can help lower the Distrust Tax. “AI agents are showing real signs of value, but much of it is being erased by oversight, rework, and exception handling,” said Tim Sanders, Chief Innovation Officer at G2. “An agent’s ability to do work is no longer creating the bottleneck to adoption; it’s now formed when organizations don’t trust agents to complete the work. Absent trust, agents are limited to isolated use cases and are slowing the market’s move into mainstream adoption. For agents to cross that chasm, pragmatists need real proof of credibility — not more marketing promises, but repeatable results in real workflows and the controls that make autonomy safe to extend.” Key findings from G2’s 2026 AI Agents Insights Report include: AI Agent adoption is advancing from pilots to production Agents are moving beyond experimentation into workflows where companies can measure speed, quality, and cost. The Trust Gap has created a “Distrust Tax” The agent Trust Gap has begun to narrow as agents advance into production. However, bot-sitting and rework consume a significant portion of agent gains. Shadow Agents have become the new Shadow IT Organizations lack visibility into which agents their employees use, who owns them, and the risks they may pose. As agent fleets grow, inventory, identity, visibility, and accountability are lagging. AI Agents are disrupting SaaS Agents are changing both the products buyers want in their software stack and how they expect to pay for them. Traditional seat-based pricing models and disconnected products are becoming weaker fits for agent-driven work. AI agents face a higher bar for proof than traditional software Beyond testing, the real challenge begins when AI agents enter day-to-day workflows. Buyers need to understand what agents can reliably handle on their own and when human intervention is necessary. Read more findings from G2’s 2026 AI Agents Report and explore G2’s recently launched beta version of AI Agent Evaluations to see how G2 is building trust for the agentic economy.
