Gartner predicts over 40% of agentic AI projects will be canceled by the end of 2027. It names three reasons: escalating costs, unclear business value and inadequate risk controls.
None of those is a technology failure. All three are decisions that get skipped on the way in.
Cost: was there a number on what this costs to run at scale, not just to pilot?
Value: was there a defined result you’d measure against before launch?
Risk: was there a person, a limit and a stop condition for when the AI gets it wrong?
Gartner adds that many vendors are “agent washing,” relabeling existing chatbots and automation as agentic. By its estimate, only about 130 of the thousands of agentic AI vendors are real. So the first screen isn’t how impressive the demo is. It’s whether you can answer those three questions about it.
This is a forecast, not a verdict, and the 40% isn’t inevitable. But the cure is unglamorous: answer cost, value and risk on paper before you buy, then check the answers against a pilot.
So what — can you answer all three about your most important AI initiative today, in one sentence each? Now what — pick the one you can’t, and get an answer before the next budget review.
Source: Gartner press release, June 2025
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