--- title: "EY survey finds that autonomous AI deployment is outpacing oversight capacity, creating a governance gap — Marsanne Studio AI watch" description: "According to an EY survey, 91% of large companies use agentic AI but governance is struggling to keep pace, and incidents have already occurred." url: "https://marsanne.studio/en/ai-watch/ey-survey-finds-that-autonomous-ai-deployment-is-outpacing-oversight-05d7bd/" lang: "en" --- [Marsanne Studio](https://marsanne.studio/en/) [← Back to home](https://marsanne.studio/en/ai-watch) [← The AI watch](https://marsanne.studio/en/ai-watch) Data study · 15 September 2026 # 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 →](https://www.ey.com/en_us/newsroom/2026/09/ey-survey-finds-that-autonomous-ai-implementation-outpaces-oversight-yielding-an-ai-governance-gap) ## Figures cited - 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. » Source: [EY US AI Risk and Governance Survey](https://www.ey.com/en_us/insights/assurance/ai-governance-has-entered-its-next-phase-closing-the-confidence-gap) - 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. » Source: [EY US AI Risk and Governance Survey](https://www.ey.com/en_us/insights/assurance/ai-governance-has-entered-its-next-phase-closing-the-confidence-gap) - 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. » Source: [EY US AI Risk and Governance Survey](https://www.ey.com/en_us/insights/assurance/ai-governance-has-entered-its-next-phase-closing-the-confidence-gap) - 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. » Source: [EY US AI Risk and Governance Survey](https://www.ey.com/en_us/insights/assurance/ai-governance-has-entered-its-next-phase-closing-the-confidence-gap) - 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. » Source: [EY US AI Risk and Governance Survey](https://www.ey.com/en_us/insights/assurance/ai-governance-has-entered-its-next-phase-closing-the-confidence-gap) - 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. » Source: [EY US AI Risk and Governance Survey](https://www.ey.com/en_us/insights/assurance/ai-governance-has-entered-its-next-phase-closing-the-confidence-gap) - 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. » Source: [EY US AI Risk and Governance Survey](https://www.ey.com/en_us/insights/assurance/ai-governance-has-entered-its-next-phase-closing-the-confidence-gap) - 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. » Source: [EY US AI Risk and Governance Survey](https://www.ey.com/en_us/insights/assurance/ai-governance-has-entered-its-next-phase-closing-the-confidence-gap) - 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 » Source: [EY US AI Risk and Governance Survey](https://www.ey.com/en_us/insights/assurance/ai-governance-has-entered-its-next-phase-closing-the-confidence-gap) - 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 » Source: [EY US AI Risk and Governance Survey](https://www.ey.com/en_us/insights/assurance/ai-governance-has-entered-its-next-phase-closing-the-confidence-gap) ## 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.