Companies Face 150,000 AI Agents by 2028 as Employee-Built Bots Raise Cost and Security Risks
Updated
Updated · Futurism · May 17
Companies Face 150,000 AI Agents by 2028 as Employee-Built Bots Raise Cost and Security Risks
2 articles · Updated · Futurism · May 17
Gartner projects the average Fortune 500 company will run more than 150,000 AI agents by 2028, up from fewer than 15 today, as employee-built bots proliferate across workplaces.
That "AI agent sprawl" is being driven by tools that let staff easily create custom agents, leaving companies with redundant systems that consume paid tokens and widen cybersecurity exposure.
Magnum Ice Cream said it expects to condense and centralize its agents for financial control and security, while DaVita has already seen employees create more than 10,000 agents.
FICO said its 3,500 employees are producing dozens of new agents every day, underscoring how quickly the problem is spreading beyond tech firms.
Only 13% of companies say they have robust AI-agent governance in place, suggesting oversight is lagging well behind adoption.
With 150,000 agents predicted per company, are businesses on the verge of an AI productivity revolution or a financial crisis?
As thousands of 'shadow AI' agents operate unseen, how can companies regain control before costs and risks become unmanageable?