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OutSystems 2026 State of AI Development report reveals 96% of enterprises use AI agents and 97% explore agentic AI strategies, yet 94% worry about sprawl, governance, and security risks.
OutSystems, a leading AI development platform, has released its global 2026 State of AI Development report. The research indicates that enterprises have shifted decisively from AI experimentation to execution, with nearly every organization surveyed actively deploying AI agents and planning broader agentic AI strategies.
The report, based on responses from 1,900 global IT leaders, highlights that 96% of organizations are already using AI agents, while 97% are exploring system-wide agentic AI approaches. This marks a clear transition toward embedding autonomous AI into core business operations, moving beyond pilots into production environments.
Despite strong momentum, governance challenges persist. 94% of organizations report concerns that AI sprawl is raising complexity, technical debt, and security risks. Most enterprises continue to operate agents in fragmented environments, with only a limited number implementing centralized governance frameworks.
"Our approach to working with OutSystems for an agentic solution was to start with a small, well-defined project that we felt like we could get into production, and that would actually have an impact on the business," said Scott Finkle, VP of Technology, McConkey Auction Group. "Our main goal of the project was to build some muscle for building AI projects moving forward. OutSystems and Agent Workbench will pay great dividends to us as we iterate on our AI implementation."
Agentic AI maturity varies across regions, with organizations in Australia, Brazil, Germany, the Netherlands, the UK, and the US showing intermediate progress. Financial services and technology sectors lead in production deployments. Overall, 49% of respondents rate their agentic AI capabilities as advanced or expert.
The effects of agentic AI are most evident in IT and software development, where 31% of organizations consider AI integral to their practices and 42% have embedded it into specific lifecycle phases. Additionally, 52% now use a human-on-the-loop model, balancing autonomy with oversight.
"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,” said 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 an issue, with 38% of organizations mixing custom-built and pre-built agents. While 12% have adopted centralized platforms to manage sprawl, most are still developing governance approaches on a team-by-team or region-by-region basis.
OutSystems has introduced Agentic Systems Engineering, an open approach designed to help enterprises build, manage, and evolve governed agentic systems on a unified platform. The report underscores the need for stronger architectural foundations as agentic AI becomes mainstream in enterprise environments.
About OutSystems
OutSystems is a leading AI Development Platform built for the enterprise. Global organizations trust OutSystems to rapidly build mission-critical apps and agents, modernize legacy processes with agentic systems, and govern their entire AI portfolio across complex regulatory environments, all on a unified platform. OutSystems is consistently recognized as a leader in enterprise software development by Gartner, IDC, and Forrester, and ranked #1 in Customer Satisfaction by users on G2. Business leaders, IT executives and developers choose OutSystems to accelerate internal innovation without compromising reliability and security.
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