Data study ·
EY survey finds that autonomous AI deployment is outpacing oversight capacity, creating a governance gap
- Publication
- EY (United Kingdom)
- Author
- Unsigned
- Published on
- 15 September 2026 · read in the page structured data · updated on 14 September 2026
Summary
An EY survey of 202 senior AI executives at organisations with annual revenues of at least $1 billion shows a gap between the rapid deployment of agentic AI and the governance in place. While 98% of organisations have formal AI governance policies, 47% admit they did not apply them to urgent deployments. 91% use agentic AI, but for half of them the governance framework has not been updated to cover these systems, and 26% cannot detect unauthorised AI agents internally. 36% of organisations have already experienced an AI incident with a materially negative impact (data loss, financial or reputational damage). Formal AI assurance reviews, carried out annually by 98% of organisations, lead to systems being modified, suspended or discontinued in many cases.
Summary based on the full text of the article.
Read the article on EY →Figures cited
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98 %
Organisations with formal AI governance policies
202 senior AI executives at organisations with annual revenues of at least $1 billion
« About half (47%) of respondents say their organization has previously not applied its AI governance process for urgent deployments, despite 98% having formal AI governance policies in place. »
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47 %
Organisations that did not apply their AI governance process to urgent deployments
202 senior AI executives at organisations with annual revenues of at least $1 billion
« About half (47%) of the respondents have even admitted that their organization has previously not followed its AI governance process for urgent deployments, even as AI-related incidents, cyber risk and shadow AI have become more common. »
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26 %
Organisations using agentic AI that are unable to detect unauthorised AI agents internally
Respondents whose organisation uses agentic AI
« Agentic AI adoption is creating new governance challenges, with 26% of respondents whose organization uses agentic AI admitting that their organization cannot detect unauthorized AI agents operating internally. »
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36 %
Organisations that experienced an AI incident or failure with a materially negative impact
202 senior AI executives at organisations with annual revenues of at least $1 billion
« About a third (36%) have experienced an AI incident or failure that caused a materially negative impact to their organization, including data loss, financial damage, brand damage and operational disruptions. »
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69 %
Executives concerned about a lack of in-house expertise to evolve AI governance
202 senior AI executives at organisations with annual revenues of at least $1 billion
« about two-thirds of senior AI executives expressed concern over a lack of internal expertise to effectively evolve (69%), implement (63%) or design (63%) AI governance controls at their organization. »
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91 %
Organisations using agentic AI (pilot or full deployment)
202 senior AI executives at organisations with annual revenues of at least $1 billion
« Agentic AI is being rapidly adopted across enterprises, with 91% of senior AI executives reporting their organization uses agentic AI, either through active pilot programs or full enterprise deployment. »
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49 %
Executives whose organisation uses agentic AI and whose governance framework has not been updated for agentic AI
Respondents whose organisation uses agentic AI
« Roughly half (49%) of respondents whose organization uses agentic AI say their organization’s existing governance framework has not yet been updated to specifically include agentic AI requirements and risks. »
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85 %
Agentic AI systems executing actions without real-time human involvement
Respondents whose organisation uses agentic AI
« 85% of senior AI executives whose organization uses agentic AI admit that at least a handful of these systems execute actions without real-time human involvement. »
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98 %
Organisations that conducted a formal AI assurance review at least annually
202 senior AI executives at organisations with annual revenues of at least $1 billion
« Nearly all (98%) respondents said their organization has conducted a formal AI assurance review at least annually »
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64 %
Organisations that significantly modified a quarter or more of their AI systems following an assurance review
Respondents that conducted a formal AI assurance review
« 64% significantly modified a quarter or more of their AI systems »
Classification
- Country
- Worldwide scope
- Company size
- Large companies
- Industries
- All industries, or industry not specified
- Companies
- EY (Ernst & Young LLP) (study author)
- Keywords
- AI governance, agentic AI, cybersecurity, shadow AI, risk management
EY sells AI services or products: its studies and publications should be read with that interest in mind.
Entry written by Marsanne Studio from the cited article, with the help of an AI model (claude-sonnet-5). The rights to the article and its illustrations belong to EY. Entry translated from French by Claude Sonnet 5.5.