In a major shift from experimentation to execution, OutSystems today released its global 2026 State of AI Development report, showing that 96% of enterprises are already using AI agents in some capacity, and 97% are exploring system-wide agentic AI strategies. This marks a clear inflection point in enterprise AI adoption, with autonomous agents now embedded in mission-critical operations. However, the report also highlights a growing concern: 94% of organizations worry about agentic AI sprawl, signaling that governance, oversight, and control remain unresolved challenges.
The findings underscore the rapid normalization of agentic AI in enterprise workflows, even as the infrastructure to manage it lags behind. As businesses scale AI agents across departments and functions, the risk of unmanaged proliferation—and the security, compliance, and operational risks that come with it—are rising sharply.
This report arrives amid broader industry forecasts predicting that 40% of enterprise applications will include task-specific AI agents by the end of 2026, reinforcing the urgency for robust governance frameworks. OutSystems’ data makes clear that while agentic AI is now mainstream, the enterprise must urgently address the governance gap to avoid chaos in AI operations.