Gartner Predicts that Over 40% of Agentic AI Projects Will Be Discontinued by 2027 | AIM

Even as enterprises are moving steadily towards adopting generative AI and agentic AI systems, Gartner’s latest report predicts that more than 40% of agentic AI projects will be discontinued by the end of 2027. This will be driven by rising expenses, vague business benefits, or insufficient risk management.

In a poll conducted by Gartner in January 2025 with 3,412 webinar participants, 19% reported that their organisation had made substantial investments in agentic AI, 42% had made cautious investments, 8% had not invested at all, while the remaining 31% were either taking a wait-and-see stance or were uncertain.

Many vendors are fueling the excitement through “agent washing,” which involves rebranding existing products like AI assistants, robotic process automation (RPA), and chatbots, despite lacking genuine agentic features. Gartner estimates that only around 130 of the thousands of agentic AI vendors possess legitimate capabilities.

“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 organisations to the real cost and complexity of deploying AI agents at scale, stalling projects from moving into production.”

Major technology companies like Salesforce and Oracle have adopted AI agents, which are systems capable of independently achieving objectives and taking action. They are investing billions into this technology to improve profit margins and optimise expenses.

Despite initial challenges, the rise of agentic AI marks a significant advance in AI capabilities and market potential, the report says. It will enhance resource efficiency, automate complex tasks, and foster new business innovations, exceeding the capabilities of basic automation bots and virtual assistants.

Gartner forecasts that by 2028, 15% of daily work decisions will be made autonomously through agentic AI, up from 0% in 2024. Additionally, 33% of enterprise software applications are expected to feature agentic AI by 2028, compared to under 1% in 2024.

“Most agentic AI propositions lack significant value or return on investment (ROI), as current models don’t have the maturity and agency to autonomously achieve complex business goals or follow nuanced instructions over time,” said Verma. “Many use cases positioned as agentic today don’t require agentic implementations.”