Report by Workato
AI Challenges Threatening IT Leader Success
Key Findings
23% of U.S. enterprise IT leaders say they would be expected to resign or be removed if an AI agent caused a major public security or compliance incident at their organization.
36% of U.S. enterprise IT leaders say their organization would attempt to handle a major AI security or compliance incident quietly without disclosure.
62% of U.S. enterprise IT leaders expect an AI agent will cause a public security or compliance incident at their company within the next 18 months.
74% of U.S. enterprise IT leaders say IT leadership would be held accountable if an AI agent took an action that violated policy, exposed data, or harmed a customer.
66% of AI agent adoption is coming through IT’s formal procurement process.
45% of U.S. enterprise IT leaders have added AI agents to board-level discussions.
60% of U.S. enterprise IT leaders worry more about AI agents than traditional cyberattacks.
62% of U.S. enterprise IT leaders say most AI agents currently in use at their organization were not formally approved by IT.
More than 95% of U.S. enterprise IT leaders believe the benefits of agentic AI and digital coworkers are overwhelmingly positive.
92% of U.S. enterprise IT leaders expect their organizations to adopt digital coworkers within the next 18 months.
42% of U.S. enterprise IT leaders prioritize visibility into what AI agents are actually doing across systems.
48% of CTOs prioritize visibility into what AI agents are actually doing across systems.
31% of U.S. enterprise IT leaders prioritize the ability to audit and reverse an AI agent action.
29% of U.S. enterprise IT leaders prioritize knowing exactly who is accountable for AI agent actions.
27% of U.S. enterprise IT leaders prioritize confidence that every AI agent action is compliant by default.
33% of AI agent deployments are deployed directly without oversight by business units and individual employees.
64% of U.S. enterprise IT leaders expect unauthorized AI deployments to accelerate.
46% of U.S. enterprise IT leaders say the board would demand an external audit if an AI agent caused a major security or compliance incident.
24% of U.S. enterprise IT leaders say their organization would publicly blame the AI vendor if an AI agent caused a major security or compliance incident.
63% of U.S. enterprise IT leaders say their IT team knows less about how AI agents work than other employees in their organization.