Over half of UK firms say an AI agent has gone rogue on them and affected their business or their customers

Date:
Sun, 27 Sep 2026 06:00:00 +0000

Description:
Businesses are struggling to effectively control their AI agents, with over half of British companies admitting to at least one breach of business policy by an automated system.

FULL STORY ======================================================================Copy link Facebook X Whatsapp Reddit Pinterest Flipboard Threads Email Share this article 0 Join the conversation Follow us Add us as a preferred source on Google Newsletter Subscribe to our newsletter 53% of British CIOs have seen
at least one AI agent violate a policy and impact either the business or a customer The global average for rogue AI actions is just 31%, raising questions on AI governance in the UK CIOs are under increasing pressure to deliver value from AI investments, with a majority expecting budgets cuts and even unemployment if targets are not met AI agents going rogue is a growing challenge for British businesses according to a new study which also raises questions over policies and governance of AI in the workplace. Rule breaking AI agents in the UK are apparently experiencing far greater problems than the global average.

The research, conducted by Harris Poll on behalf of Dataiku, reveals that British-based CIOs are also under immense pressure to deliver on AI investments. CIOs blame what Dataiku calls AI-Agent sprawl the creation and use of custom AI agents in the workplace, which are deployed faster than they can be governed. This practice can potentially open businesses to risks, not just for the organization itself, but also for customers. Latest Videos From TechRadar Watch full video here: AI agent risks Harris Polls survey of 685 CIOs in the UK, France, Germany, US, UAE, Japan, South Korea, and Singapore reveals governance challenges facing CIOs (Chief Information Officer) around the world. But the results show us that the UK seems to be facing some unique issues.

The statistic that 53% of British CIOs have revealed that they have seen one or more AI agents violating a business policy that has impacted their own organization or a customer is noticeably higher than the average of 31%. But the problems dont end there. Only 49% could produce an audit trail to explain the actions of an AI, and 68% believe it would take over 24 hours to identify a rogue AI agent and limit its impact. You may like Almost all AI tools are now running with no oversight from IT putting companies in the firing line CIOs are being held accountable when AI goes wrong, and they aren't happy Rogue AI agents arent flukes, theyre patterns

With the challenge of AI sprawl cited by 87% of British CIOs, the problems seem to derive from the policies, procedures, and laws governing AI use.

More than half of UK businesses reporting that an AI agent has violated
policy should be a signal that monitoring alone is not enough," noted Faye Murray, Field Chief Data Officer at Dataiku. Are you a pro? Subscribe to our newsletter Sign up to the TechRadar Pro newsletter to get all the top news, opinion, features and guidance your business needs to succeed! Contact me
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The impact of a rogue action needs full accountability, something that Murray observes ...cannot be retrofitted after an incident; they need to be designed into the deployment from the start. Unplugged The implication is that the industry has got things wrong when it comes to AI. Autonomous systems cant be simply left to get on with things, at any scale. Dataikus CEO Florian Douetteau says: The industry sold CIOs on autonomy and forgot to mention the cost: autonomous systems need to be managed, not just monitored.

"Monitoring tells you an agent is running. Managing tells you whether it's earned the right to keep running. Right now, almost nobody can fire an agent. For those businesses where an AI agent has got out of hand, that may make for uncomfortable or disappointing reading, but the solution really is improved oversight.

As Douetteay says, the only alternative is to unplug it and hope." Follow TechRadar on Google News and add us as a preferred source to get our expert news, reviews, and opinion in your feeds.



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