Gartner (IT) forecast Wednesday that over 40% of AI agent projects will be canceled by the end of 2027 because of escalating costs, murky financial benefits, or weak risk controls.

Organizations "need to cut through the hype to make careful, strategic decisions about where and how they apply this emerging technology," said Anushree Verma, senior director and analyst at Gartner.

The consulting firm said many vendors were rebranding existing products, such as AI assistants, robotic process automation, and chatbots as AI agents "without substantial agentic capabilities."

"Most agentic AI propositions lack significant value or return on investment as current models don't have the maturity and agency to autonomously achieve complex business goals or follow nuanced instructions over time," she said.