Gartner expects the agentic AI market will undergo a near-term correction as an oversupply of models, platforms, and products gives way to more sustainable growth. The firm said the market’s current expansion phase—driven by investor enthusiasm and fear of missing out—has produced more agentic AI offerings than enterprise buyers can realistically absorb.
Analysts predict that the coming consolidation will separate capital-rich incumbents from underfunded startups, as larger technology firms acquire promising tools and teams. Despite the slowdown, Gartner said the shakeout should not be interpreted as a signal of crisis but as part of the technology’s natural evolution.
“While we see early signs of market correction and consolidation, product leaders should recognize this as a regular part of the product life cycle, not a sign of inevitable economic crisis,” said Will Sommer, Senior Director Analyst at Gartner. “Over the longer term, consolidation will enable industry leaders to develop agentic products that meet the technical and business requirements of customers who are presently struggling to adopt AI agents.”
According to Gartner, the situation mirrors earlier technology cycles in telecommunications, energy, and the dot-com era, when hype eventually gave way to operational pragmatism. The firm said that although today’s correction is driven by supply-demand imbalance rather than speculative excess, a future “bubble” could form if investment becomes detached from real economic value.
Large vendors have already begun acquiring smaller AI specialists, signaling that the consolidation phase is underway. Gartner expects this to result in integrated ecosystems that improve agentic performance and drive more reliable, domain-specific applications.