More than 40% of agentic AI projects will likely be cancelled by the end of 2027 due to rising costs, limited business value, and poor risk control, according to research firm Gartner.

These cancellations are expected as many early-stage initiatives remain trapped in hype, often misapplied and far from ready for real-world deployment.

Gartner analyst Anushree Verma warned that most agentic AI efforts are still at the proof-of-concept stage. Instead of focusing on scalable production, many companies have been distracted by experimental use cases, underestimating the cost and complexity of full-scale implementation.

A recent poll by Gartner found that only 19% of organisations had made significant investments in agentic AI, while 31% were undecided or waiting.

Much of the current hype is fuelled by vendors engaging in 'agent washing' - marketing existing tools like chatbots or RPA under a new agentic label without offering true agentic capabilities.

Out of thousands of vendors, Gartner believes only around 130 offer legitimate agentic solutions. Verma noted that most agentic models today lack the intelligence to deliver strong returns or follow complex instructions independently.

Still, agentic AI holds long-term promise. Gartner expects 15% of daily workplace decisions to be handled autonomously by 2028, up from zero in 2024. Moreover, one-third of enterprise applications will include agentic capabilities by then.

However, to succeed, organisations must reimagine workflows from the ground up, focusing on enterprise-wide productivity instead of isolated task automation.