A new survey finds 96 percent of organizations are already using AI agents in some capacity, and 97 percent are exploring system-wide agentic AI strategies. However, 94 percent report concerns that AI sprawl is increasing complexity, technical debt, and security risk.
The report from AI development platform OutSystems surveyed 1,900 global IT leaders and shows adoption maturity varies by region, with many organizations in Australia, Brazil, Germany, the Netherlands, the UK, and the US reporting intermediate progress, while France remains earlier in its journey. Financial services and technology organizations report the highest levels of production deployment.
The impact of agentic AI is most apparent within IT and software development, where time-to-value is easily measurable. 31 percent of respondents say AI is already integral to their development practices, and another 42 percent have embedded AI into specific phases of the software development lifecycle. As agents prove value in development environments, 52 percent of organizations now rely on a human-on-the-loop model, allowing systems to operate with reduced direct oversight while maintaining supervisory control.
“The transition from AI experimentation to measurable business outcomes is no longer a future state — it is our current reality. The findings in the State of AI Development Report reveal a fundamental shift where building software and building AI systems have become one and the same,” says Woodson Martin, CEO at OutSystems. “As organizations move toward a ‘system of agents’ model, the challenge is no longer just about adoption, but about creating a stable architectural foundation that can coordinate these complex intelligent systems to drive real-world productivity.”
Architectural fragmentation remains a challenge, with 38 percent of organizations globally reporting mixing custom-built and pre-built agents, creating AI stacks that are difficult to standardize and secure. While 12 percent have implemented a centralized platform to manage sprawl, most enterprises are still experimenting with governance approaches that vary by team and region.
The full report is available from the OutSystems site.
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