TL;DR — Key Takeaways
- AI risk is outrunning value. Gartner says organizations are struggling to scale AI successes while managing growing exposure.
- Agentic AI adoption is outpacing governance. While 71% of organizations expect to deploy agentic AI within a year, only 21% have governance capabilities in place.
- People remain essential. Gartner recommends coordinating AI oversight while empowering employees to find new uses for the technology.
Chief information officers are uniquely positioned to navigate the mounting risks of artificial intelligence (AI) while delivering sustainable business value, but it is a tricky task.
Gartner analysts emphasized that value and risk are intrinsically connected, framing the core challenge for modern enterprise leaders as compounding business gains faster than exposure to risk.
While adoption continues to surge — with a second-quarter 2026 Gartner survey revealing that 58% of functional leaders report positive returns from AI — many organizations struggle to scale initial successes enterprise-wide. At the same time, CIOs report that AI-related risks are outpacing realized value.
“The new CIO imperative is to align value with risk and align safety with governance,” said Daryl Plummer, vice president and fellow at Gartner. “Alignment is the key.”
Current data underscores a critical gap in enterprise readiness. A third-quarter survey of IT risk leaders found that only 25% of CIOs effectively align technology and business risks. Furthermore, while 71% of organizations plan to deploy agentic AI within the next year, just 21% currently possess the governance capabilities required to oversee autonomous systems.
To bridge this divide and help executive leaders build momentum while avoiding operational drag, Gartner outlined a three-part strategic framework:
Deploy the value-risk flywheel. CIOs must manage the dual forces of momentum and drag. Rather than seeking a rigid, universal ratio, executives should adapt their flywheel balance — whether value-heavy, neutral, or risk-heavy — to match their specific business strategy and risk tolerance. For example, in software development, AI-generated code reduces the drag of manual labor, enabling rapid prototyping and product engineering.
Establish an AI central bank. Rather than centralizing control, organizations can implement a virtual AI Central Bank to act as a unified control plane. This body coordinates decision-making, governs technology, manages economics, and fosters shared intelligence to ensure safety and accountability across human and machine workflows.
Empower AI entrepreneurs. Gartner highlighted that human expertise remains the ultimate catalyst for AI success. Organizations should cultivate AI artisans, advanced power users who creatively leverage AI to transform everyday workflows. By fostering an entrepreneurial culture that rewards workplace innovation, CIOs can unlock new avenues for continuous value creation.
Ultimately, Gartner analysts reminded attendees that governance frameworks alone do not drive outcomes.
“Universal governance promotes safety everywhere, but what it will not do is eliminate risk, and it will not drive value. The only thing that can do that is people,” Plummer said.
