A new report from Kyndryl found that only 23% of senior business and technology leaders believe their workforce is ready for AI, down six points from 2025, despite worldwide spending on AI forecast to total $2.52 trillion in 2026, an increase of 44% year-on-year. Just a quarter of Kyndryl's 1,100 global respondents believe their organisational culture is ready for AI adoption. The report noted that "the readiness gap is widest where it is least technical," with organisations far more confident in their tech than in supporting structures. Only around a third of leaders said workforce skills and role structures (36%) and organisational culture and change capacity (33%) will be ready within the year. Few organisations are investing in workforce planning: just 34% have an accurate inventory of employee skills, 31% have a formal budget and proactive upskilling strategy, 28% have enterprise-wide workforce resourcing plans, and 25% have career transition pathways for employees impacted by AI. Firms dubbed "Pacesetters" that invest in workforce readiness are 1.5 times more likely to achieve AI-related revenue growth and 1.6 times more likely to report better innovation.