Businesses are acting fast to adopt agentic AI – artificial intelligence systems that work without human guidance – but have been much slower to put governance in place to oversee them, a new survey shows. That mismatch is a major source of risk in AI adoption. In my view, it’s also a business opportunity.

I’m a professor of management information systems at Drexel University’s LeBow College of Business, which recently surveyed more than 500 data professionals through its Center for Applied AI & Business Analytics. We found that 41% of organizations are using agentic AI in their daily operations. These aren’t just pilot projects or one-off tests. They’re part of regular workflows.

At the same time, governance is lagging. Only 27% of organizations say their governance frameworks are mature enough to monitor and manage these systems effectively.

In this context, governance is not about regulation or unnecessary rules. It means having policies and practices that let people clearly influence how autonomous systems work, including who is responsible for decisions, how behavior is checked, and when humans should get involved.

This mismatch can become a problem when autonomous systems act in real situations before anyone can intervene.

For example, during a recent power outage in San Francisco,........

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