Finance teams jumped from 16% to 80% using generative AI for cash flow in a year, but only 5% let AI agents act on their own, a new study finds.
Finance teams have embraced AI for managing cash, but they are not letting it run the money. A PYMNTS Intelligence study, done with JPMorgan, found 80% of finance teams now use generative AI for cash flow, up from 16% a year earlier. Only 5% use AI agents that act without a person, down from 6%.
Generative AI is the kind that writes text and answers questions. In cash flow work, it helps analyze money coming in and going out and suggests what to do next. Agentic AI is different. It carries out decisions by itself.
The study, called "Time to Cash: What Two Years of Data Say About Faster Cash and Rising Risk," shows the first kind spreading fast and the second barely moving.
Nearly two-thirds of finance teams, 64%, now use AI-generated insights or recommendations when making cash decisions. A year earlier it was 44%. Some 28% of CFOs call those insights their most impactful cash flow action, up from 13%.
That nearly matches business intelligence dashboards, which are screens of charts and figures about the business. They sit at 29%.
AI is being added on top of existing tools, not replacing them. Business intelligence and analytics tools are used by 96% of companies, spreadsheets by 95% and ERP systems by 93%. ERP systems are the software that tracks a company's core operations.
Manual spreadsheet analysis is still used by 76% of finance teams. Only 2% name it as their most impactful action, down from 10%.
The study points to results. CFOs reporting better cash flow model accuracy rose from 67% to 86%. Those reporting faster forecasting rose from 70% to 85%.
Executives can use that output without handing the final decision to an autonomous agent.
The data do not explain why agentic AI sits near 5%. The study does not say whether the cause is trust, technology limits or company policy. Related AI use is growing, though. Some 65% of companies use AI or machine learning for real-time fraud detection. That rises to 71% among companies using at least two types of AI for cash flow, versus 53% for those using one type or none.
For now, the practical line is clear. AI helps decide what should happen to cash, and people still manage it.
AI that recommends cash moves is now common and tied to better forecasts, and the study shows most firms still keep a person in charge of the money.
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