Increasing legal claims against AI-induced safety problems related to autonomous vehicle or medical accidents are also a mounting concern, Plummer stated. By the end of 2026, “death by AI” legal claims will exceed 1,000 globally due to insufficient AI risk guardrails, Plummer stated.
“As regulatory scrutiny intensifies, organizations will face pressure not only to meet minimum legal obligations but also to prioritize safety and transparency in their business systems using AI guardrails. Somewhat paradoxically, companies will likely showcase either their AI use or lack thereof to differentiate themselves from competitors and mitigate the risk of potential litigation,” Gartner stated.
Uniform, global AI deployments will be a challenge for large corporations, according to Gartner, as AI markets shift due to regional requirements. By 2027, 35% of countries will be locked into region-specific AI platforms using proprietary contextual data, the firm predicts.
“The AI landscape will fragment as technical and geopolitical factors force organizations to localize solutions, responding to strict regulations, linguistic diversity, and cultural alignment. Universal AI solutions will fade as regional differences grow,” Gartner stated. “Multinational companies will face complex challenges deploying uniform AI across global markets and will have to manage multiple platform partnerships, each with unique compliance and data governance demands.”
Not all the AI trends are negative, of course, but many will present challenges for IT leaders. The remainder of Gartner’s predictions for IT organizations address AI’s influence on productivity tools, hiring processes, customer service, business-to-business transactions, and governance.
GenAI and agents will shake up productivity tool space
Through 2027, GenAI and AI agent use will create the first true challenge to mainstream productivity tools in 30 years, prompting a $58 billion market shakeup, Gartner stated. “GenAI changes will allow organizations to prioritize requirements to GenAI innovations that accelerate work completion. Legacy formats and compatibility will decline in importance, reducing barriers to entry and resulting in new competition from a wide array of vendors,” the firm stated.
