Gartner predicts that over 40% of agentic AI projects will be canceled by the end of 2027

More than 40% of agentic AI projects will be canceled by the end of 2027 due to rising costs, unclear business value, or inadequate risk controls, according to Gartner, Inc..  

“Most agentic AI projects at the moment are early-stage experiments or proofs of concept that are primarily driven by hype and are often misapplied,” says Anushree Verma, Senior Director Analyst at Gartner. “This can blind companies to the real cost and complexity of implementing AI agents at scale, preventing projects from moving into production. They must overcome the hype to make strategic and careful decisions about where and how to apply this emerging technology.” 

According to a Gartner survey conducted in January 2025 with 3,412 webinar participants, 19% said their companies made significant investments in agentic AI, 42% made conservative investments, 8% made no investments, and the remaining 31% are taking a wait-and-see approach or are uncertain. 

Many vendors are contributing to the hype by engaging in “agent washing” (agent washing) – the rebranding of existing products, such as AI assistants, robotic process automation (RPA), and chatbots, without substantial agentic capabilities. Gartner estimates that only about 130 of the thousands of agentic AI vendors are real.  

“Most agentic AI proposals lack significant value or return on investment (ROI), as current models lack the maturity and capability to autonomously achieve complex business goals or follow nuanced instructions over time,” says Verma. “Many use cases positioned as agentic today do not require agentic implementations.” 

Delivering business value 

Despite these initial challenges, the trend toward agentic AI represents a leap in AI capabilities and market opportunities. Agentic AI will provide new means to enhance resource efficiency, automate complex tasks, and introduce business innovations, going beyond the capabilities of scripted automation bots and virtual assistants. 

Gartner predicts that by 2028, at least 15% of everyday work decisions will be made autonomously through agentic AI, compared to 0% in 2024. Additionally, 33% of enterprise software applications will include agentic AI by 2028, up from less than 1% in 2024. 

At this early stage, Gartner recommends that agentic AI be adopted only where there is clear delivery of value or ROI. Integrating agents into legacy systems can be technically complex, often disrupting workflows and requiring costly modifications. In many cases, rethinking workflows with agentic AI from the ground up is the optimal path to successful implementation. 

“To derive real value from agentic AI, companies should focus on organizational productivity rather than merely improving individual tasks,” states Verma. “They can start by using AI agents when decisions are needed, automation for routine workflows, and assistants for simple retrieval. It’s about generating business value through cost, quality, speed, and scale.” 

Gartner clients can read more in the report Emerging Tech: Avoid Agentic AI Failure: Build Success Using Right Use Cases.