Business and economy·October 19, 2026, 17:00

Many want to use AI agents, but few have them under control

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According to a Gartner survey, 71 percent of organizations expect to adopt agentic AI within a year, while only 21 percent have the governance capabilities for it. Gartner says leaders need to align value with risk.

Many organizations are heading toward AI that can act on its own, but far fewer have rules and controls in place. That is according to figures presented by the research firm Gartner at the IT Symposium/Xpo conference in Orlando, Florida, on October 19-23, 2026.

Agentic AI refers to AI systems that can carry out tasks and make decisions on their own, rather than just answering questions. Governance is the set of rules, roles and controls meant to ensure that such technology is used responsibly.

71 percent versus 21 percent

According to a Gartner survey from the second quarter of 2026 of more than 2,000 chief information officers (CIOs) and technology leaders, 71 percent of organizations expect to adopt agentic AI within 12 months. Only 21 percent have governance capabilities for agentic AI. The gap is 50 percentage points.

The version of the press release that this article is based on does not say how governance capabilities are defined. The figures are also self-reported, and the makeup of the sample, such as countries and size, has not been disclosed.

Value and risk don't move together

In another Gartner survey from the second quarter of 2026 of more than 1,000 functional leaders, 58 percent said they see positive value from AI initiatives.

In a third survey from the third quarter of 2026 of 303 CIOs and IT risk leaders, only 25 percent had aligned technology risk and business risk.

Gartner also presented a model called the "Value-Risk Flywheel," which is built on two forces: momentum and drag.

What should leaders do?

Daryl Plummer, VP Distinguished Analyst and Gartner Fellow, says the CIO's new task is to align value with risk and security with governance.

Kristin Moyer, also a VP Distinguished Analyst and Gartner Fellow, says alignment does not mean everyone gets the same value or risk. Instead, it is about having a consistent way of shaping the relationship between value and risk.

For rank-and-file employees, the figures suggest that AI tools that act independently may be rolled out faster than the company's rules for them are put in place.