DigitalOcean report finds widening gap between companies adopting agentic AI and those falling behind
MWN-AI** Summary
DigitalOcean's latest Currents report highlights a growing gap between companies adopting agentic AI and those lagging behind. The biannual survey, which gathered insights from over 1,100 developers, CTOs, and founders, reveals that AI adoption is moving from experimental phases to implementation. In 2024, 35% of organizations were actively treating AI as a core strategy; this figure has now risen to 52%.
One key finding shows a significant shift in AI expenditure, with nearly half of organizations allocating the majority of their AI budget (76-100%) towards inference rather than training. This change indicates that future AI applications will increasingly rely on inference technologies. However, only 23% of organizations are utilizing a single cloud provider, which complicates decision-making and increases costs, as many are using multiple tools, leading to challenges in deployment and security management.
Importantly, while 53% of companies report time savings through AI agents, true autonomy remains rare; just 10% of firms have fully autonomous agents in production, with human oversight still prevailing. Looking ahead to 2026, 38% of respondents who have not adopted agents plan to investigate their potential.
DigitalOcean’s CEO, Paddy Srinivasan, emphasized that current AI-native businesses are built on inference and agentic frameworks. The report suggests that those who effectively integrate AI into their workflows see tangible benefits, and the opportunity lies in developing applications tied to agentic AI. As organizations grapple with AI's complexities and costs, the demand for accessible, comprehensive solutions that bridge traditional cloud services with AI infrastructure will grow.
The findings underscore the urgency for companies to establish production workflows around agentic AI to stay competitive in the evolving landscape.
MWN-AI** Analysis
DigitalOcean's recent Currents report highlights a growing divide among organizations in their adoption of agentic AI, with a notable shift in spending from training to inference. The report indicates that 52% of companies are actively implementing AI solutions, up from 35% in 2024, underscoring the urgency for firms to innovate and integrate AI into their core business strategies.
As we look ahead to 2026, businesses that delay experimenting with AI agents risk falling behind. With 38% of respondents not yet exploring agents planning to do so soon, the competitive landscape is rapidly changing. Companies leveraging AI agents report significant productivity gains, with 53% noting time-saving benefits and 44% creating new business capabilities. This reality demands immediate action from organizations that have not yet embraced this technology.
Moreover, the report emphasizes the need for comprehensive AI infrastructure solutions, as only 23% of participants use a cohesive single-cloud strategy. The complexity and cost associated with utilizing multiple tools are prevalent concerns; businesses must prioritize simpler, integrated solutions to mitigate these issues.
Investors should pay close attention to firms that are early adopters of agentic AI and inference capabilities, as these companies are positioned to capture the most value. DigitalOcean, beyond being a service provider, is carving out a niche as an enabler of AI-native businesses, appealing to companies seeking predictability in infrastructure costs while advancing their AI capabilities.
In conclusion, stakeholders should encourage organizations within their portfolios to prioritize AI experimentation and, where possible, invest in streamlined AI infrastructure solutions. Those who adapt quickly to the evolving AI landscape will drive future growth and productivity, making it critical for all businesses to recognize the potential of agentic AI now.
**MWN-AI Summary and Analysis is based on asking OpenAI to summarize and analyze this news release.
Biannual survey of cloud users points to accelerating adoption of agentic AI and inference, trends expected to shape budgets and infrastructure needs in 2026
DigitalOcean (NYSE: DOCN), the Inference Cloud for production AI, today released its Currents report , finding that while businesses are increasingly leveraging AI for problem-solving and efficiency, fully autonomous agentic deployments remain early-stage, and AI spend has shifted from training to inference.
DigitalOcean’s Currents report provides insight into how digital native enterprises are using artificial intelligence. Pulled from more than 1,100 responses from developers, CTOs, and founders via an online survey completed in November 2025 that was received by both DigitalOcean customers and non-customers, the survey findings include:
- Organizations have moved from AI exploration to implementation: The percent of companies actively implementing AI solutions, optimizing AI performance, or treating AI as a core component of their business strategy has grown to 52%, compared to 35% who said the same in 2024.
- AI spend has shifted from training to inference : Nearly half (44%) of organizations now allocate the majority (76-100%) of their AI budget to inferencing, rather than training, demonstrating that the next generation of AI businesses will be built on inference.
- Infrastructure as a strategy: Only 23% are using a single cloud provider that combines models, data, and infrastructure. For organizations using multiple tools, the top challenges are all related to complexity and cost. Most organizations (61%) are using multiple tools stitched together, or a hybrid of multiple tools alongside an integrated stack.
- Pricing (75%) and ease of use (61%) are important factors when selecting AI infrastructure. For organizations using multiple tools, the top challenges are all related to complexity and cost:
- "Separate tools or APIs needed" (50%)
- "Difficulty predicting and understanding costs" (49%)
- "Deployment or orchestration complexity" (48%)
- “Challenges managing security across tools” (34%)
- AI agents save time : The use of agents to achieve productivity gains is on the rise, with 53% of companies reporting success on time saved for employees. Furthermore 44% of respondents saw new business capabilities as a direct outcome from the use of AI agents.
- Human oversight is still needed : Only 10% reported that fully autonomous agents are in production, with 40% still using human review of agent outputs. Human-in-the-loop was the top guardrail that companies reported having in place.
- Looking ahead to 2026 : Expect to see the expansion of AI agents in 2026, as 38% of respondents who haven’t yet explored agents report that they will start exploring or deploying agents at that time.
The latest data make it clear that for enterprises that have not started planning or experimenting with the use of agents, the time is now to create production workflows in place to keep pace with quickly accelerating trends.
According to DigitalOcean CEO Paddy Srinivasan, “AI-native businesses today are being built on a foundation of inference and agentic AI, and those who are figuring out how to effectively integrate AI into their workflows are seeing real benefits. Respondents are in agreement that the real opportunity for AI lies in applications and agents, and modern businesses are in need of straightforward, comprehensive tools that pair traditional cloud services with AI infrastructure and platform tools.”
While the use of AI agents is on the rise, and half (50%) of respondents say they are experimenting with or deploying AI agents, the majority are still exploring or testing small pilots. In fact, only 10% see agents as core to their business strategy today. But businesses that have implemented agents are starting to see real productivity gains, and 61% see applications and agents as the greatest long-term value in the AI stack.
About Currents
Currents is DigitalOcean’s ongoing report on trends impacting growing AI-native and digital native enterprises around the world. The latest release builds on a February 2025 report , with updates on the emerging trend toward AI agents and inferencing. New findings indicate that finding the right AI solutions is dominating mindshare at companies, which are grappling with the complexity and cost of advancing the use of AI. The need for easy-to-use, end-to-end solutions that connect everything from agent creation to inference at scale is increasing.
About DigitalOcean
DigitalOcean is an inference cloud platform that helps AI and Digital Native Businesses build, run, and scale intelligent applications with speed, simplicity, and predictable economics. The platform combines production-ready GPU infrastructure, a full-stack cloud, model-first inference workflows, and an agentic experience layer to reduce operational complexity and accelerate time to production. More than 640,000 customers trust DigitalOcean to deliver the cloud and AI infrastructure they need to build and grow. To learn more, visit www.digitalocean.com .
View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20260204233445/en/
Julie Wolf
press@digitalocean.com
Investor Contact
Melanie Strate
investors@digitalocean.com
FAQ**
Given the findings from DigitalOcean’s Currents report, how is DigitalOcean Holdings Inc. DOCN positioning itself to capture the rising demand for inference-focused AI solutions as noted by the 44% of organizations prioritizing inference spending?
With 5of companies moving from AI exploration to implementation, what strategies does DigitalOcean Holdings Inc. DOCN have in place to support these enterprises in integrating AI into their workflows effectively?
How does DigitalOcean Holdings Inc. DOCN plan to address the challenges of complexity and cost associated with using multiple AI tools, especially since 61% of organizations are currently struggling with these issues?
Given that only 10% of companies report fully autonomous agents in production, what initiatives is DigitalOcean Holdings Inc. DOCN undertaking to enhance human oversight and support enterprises in transitioning to more autonomous AI solutions?
**MWN-AI FAQ is based on asking OpenAI questions about DigitalOcean Holdings Inc. (NYSE: DOCN).
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