According to a new study by Gartner Inc., more than 40 percent of agentic AI projects could be canceled by the end of 2027, due to escalating costs, unclear business value or inadequate risk controls.
In a press release, Gartner explained that many vendors were “contributing to the hype” by engaging in “agent washing” – the rebranding of existing products, such as AI assistants, robotic process automation (RPA) and chatbots, without substantial agentic capabilities. Gartner estimates only about 130 of the thousands of agentic AI vendors are real.
“Most agentic AI projects right now are early stage experiments or proof of concepts that are mostly driven by hype and are often misapplied,” says Anushree Verma, Senior Director Analyst, Gartner. “This can blind organizations to the real cost and complexity of deploying AI agents at scale, stalling projects from moving into production. They need to cut through the hype to make careful, strategic decisions about where and how they apply this emerging technology.” She further said, “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. Many use cases positioned as agentic today don’t require agentic implementations.”
Responding to a January 2025 Gartner poll of 3,412 webinar attendees, 19 percent said their organization had made significant investments in agentic AI, 42 percent had made conservative investments, 8 percent no investments, with the remaining 31 percent taking a wait and see approach or are unsure.
However, despite challenges, the trend toward agentic AI represents a leap forward in AI capabilities and market opportunity. Agentic AI will provide new means to enhance resource efficiency, automate complex tasks and introduce new business innovations, beyond the capabilities of scripted automation bots and virtual assistants.
Gartner predicts at least 15 percent of day-to-day work decisions will be made autonomously through agentic AI by 2028, up from none in 2024. In addition, 33 percent of enterprise software applications will include agentic AI by 2028, up from less than 1 percent in 2024.
