GenAI Confidence Index Report 2H 2026

C-suite confidence surges across every major measure, while internal capacity and ROI discipline continue to temper the pace of enterprise adoption

The study finds that confidence in GenAI is improving across nearly every measure tracked in the report, from industry-level sentiment to company-specific benefit to implementation capability. The rebound is most pronounced among C-suite leaders, whose confidence outpaced every other management tier this period. Middle management, which often owns delivery and integration, continues to trail senior leadership, preserving a meaningful gap between strategic conviction and execution-level confidence even as sentiment improves across the organization.

“Six months ago, enterprises were recalibrating. Today, they’re rebuilding, but on more disciplined terms,” said Daniel Fallmann, CEO and founder of Mindbreeze. “Confidence is returning because organizations are getting more realistic about what GenAI actually requires: governance, trusted enterprise knowledge, and a clear line to measurable ROI. The winners in this next phase won’t be the companies that adopted GenAI first. They’ll be the companies that can prove it works.”

Below is a section of the top findings

Insight: Industry-Level Confidence Begins to Recover

Confidence in GenAI at the industry level rose from 59 percent in 1H’26 to 63 percent in 2H’26, the first increase since the 77 percent peak recorded in 2H’25.
The rebound suggests the market is stabilizing after the 1H’26 correction, though sentiment has not returned to the highs of 2025.

Insight: C-Suite Confidence Rebounds Sharply

Industry-level confidence among C-suite respondents jumped from 60 percent to 72 percent, a 12-point gain that outpaced every other management tier.
Senior leadership is re-accelerating its strategic conviction in GenAI faster than the rest of the organization, widening the gap between executive optimism and execution-level caution.

Insight: Implementation Confidence Records the Strongest Overall Recovery

Confidence in organizational ability to implement GenAI increased from 38 percent to 44 percent, the sharpest rebound of any measure tracked in the report.
The reversal is significant because implementation capability was the measure that deteriorated most sharply during the 1H 2026 correction.

Insight: Vendor Confidence Stays Exceptionally High

Confidence in finding a vendor capable of implementing GenAI correctly held at 78 percent, with C-suite vendor confidence reaching 91 percent and only 3 percent of respondents not confident overall.
With vendor access no longer a meaningful concern, the constraint has shifted toward internal readiness, use-case clarity, and ROI measurement discipline.

Insight: Internal Capacity Emerges as the Fastest-Growing Barrier

Respondents citing “No team to implement GenAI” rose from 21 percent to 27 percent, the largest increase among all listed barriers, while cost concerns rose from 12 percent to 16 percent.
As confidence in GenAI itself recovers, organizational capacity and resourcing, not skepticism about the technology, are emerging as the primary constraints on adoption.

Insight: Operations Remains the Leading Value Target

Operations accounted for 24 percent of expected primary GenAI benefit in 2H’26, essentially holding the 25 percent level reached in 1H’26 after surging from just 7 percent in 2H’25.
The persistence of operations at the top confirms that enterprises continue to prioritize efficiency and internal productivity over more experimental or externally facing use cases.

Methodology

The 2H 2026 GenAI Confidence Index survey was conducted online within the United States and Europe between June 15, 2026 and August 18, 2026 among a sample of 21,500 managers and executives who indicated they participate in business strategy discussions for their company. Of the 21,500 sample size, 1,936 respondents completed the survey. All sample surveys and polls, whether or not they use probability sampling, are subject to multiple sources of error which are most often not possible to quantify or estimate, including sampling error, coverage error, error associated with nonresponse, error associated with question wording and response options, and post-survey weighting and adjustments.

Raw data can be made available on request. Please contact: pr@mindbreeze.com

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Our "GenAI Confidence Index Report 2H 2026" presents a detailed analysis of the current attitudes, confidence levels, and implementation priorities surrounding Generative AI (GenAI) among global enterprises. Fill in the form, and you'll receive an e-mail with a link to download the report.

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