McKinsey Chair Says AI Boosts Individual Not Enterprise Productivity

Eric Kutcher, senior partner and chair of McKinsey North America, stated that artificial intelligence is increasing individual worker productivity without delivering broad enterprise-level benefits. Speaking at McKinsey's media day on Wednesday, Kutcher noted that while workers are getting more done, companies have struggled to translate these gains into institutional output or increased profits.

Data from McKinsey's QuantumBlack division shows that 80% of surveyed respondents saw personal productivity increases, yet only 37% reported that AI contributed to their organization's core operating profits. This figure remained flat from the previous year. Kutcher identified software development as a primary exception, where AI-generated code has accelerated product releases.

Kutcher argued that for AI to generate sweeping organizational increases, companies must move beyond providing tools like ChatGPT and Claude to rethinking end-to-end business processes. McKinsey data indicates a six percentage-point increase from 2025 to 2026 in organizations shifting from pilot phases to scaling AI operations.