While agentic AI is clearly enjoying a surge in interest across a range of industries, including intelligent automation, a recent report could temper expectations of the advancing technology in the near term.
Global IT consultancy Gartner said initial optimism has given way to realities brought on by escalating costs, unclear business value or inadequate risk controls. The Stamford, Conn.-based firm said those factors will lead to more than 40 percent of agentic AI projects being canceled by the end of 2027.
“Most agentic AI projects right now are early-stage experiments or proof of concepts that are mostly driven by hype and are often misapplied,” said Anushree Verma, senior director analyst at Gartner. “This can blind organizations to the real cost and complexity of deploying AI agents at scale, stalling projects from moving into production. Most agentic AI propositions lack significant value or ROI, as current models don’t have the maturity and agency to autonomously achieve complex business goals or follow nuanced instructions over time.”
Gartner said it believes only about 130 of the thousands of vendors touting agentic AI solutions are delivering what they claim. Many are rebranding existing products, including AI assistants, RPA and chatobts as agents “without substantial agentic capabilities.”