OneTrust released its 2026 AI-Ready Governance Report, highlighting how the growing disconnect between AI adoption and oversight is increasing operational risk as AI becomes more advanced, interconnected, and autonomous across organizations. The report examines the challenges of governing AI systems already in use, finding that oversight remains fragmented and AI risk management demands continue to grow, even as widespread incidents have done little to slow enterprise AI adoption.
The second annual 2026 AI-Ready Governance Report is based on a survey of 1,200 senior business decisionmakers across the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Spain, Australia, and Singapore, conducted by Sapio Research on behalf of OneTrust.
Key Findings from OneTrust’s 2026 AI-Ready Governance Report:
- AI agents are moving faster than oversight: While 87% of organizations encourage AI agent use, only 47% have clear governance, oversight, and controls in place. Meanwhile, 28% experienced two or more incidents in the past year in which AI systems or agents took unapproved actions.
- AI incidents are widespread, but organizations aren’t hitting the brakes: 86% of respondents experienced at least one of the AI-related incidents measured in the survey in the past year, such as sensitive data or IP exposure, unapproved employee AI use, misinformation, or data loss. In response, organizations were most likely to increase employee training (49%) and least likely to pause or slow AI deployment (27%).
- When approvals lag, shadow AI grows: One-third (33%) of organizations have seen employees use unapproved AI because approved tools or processes weren’t available quickly enough, suggesting that governance friction is fueling shadow AI and moving use beyond approved channels.
“Every company is trying to hold onto two things at once: the speed they are getting from AI, and control over what it does,” said Blake Brannon, Chief Innovation Officer at OneTrust. “The research says most are losing the second while working harder than ever to keep it. That is a design problem, not a staffing problem.”
Brannon continued, “Governance has always relied on knowing in advance what a system will do. But AI is faster, there is far more of it, and the same request can be helpful in one context and harmful in another. Static rules worked for governance when a person made every decision. Now, judgment has to live in the runtime itself, deciding and enforcing in the moment AI acts, and standing apart from the tools it governs.”
More Insights from the Data: AI Governance Budgets and Workloads
- Managing AI risk demands more time: 80% of respondents say their function spends more time managing AI-related risk than 12 months ago, with an average increase of 26% in working hours.
- Organizations are putting more money behind AI governance: Nearly all organizations (98%) plan to increase budgets for technologies used to govern AI in the next financial year, with an average planned increase of 25%.
Download OneTrust’s 2026 AI-Ready Governance Report to Learn:
- Which AI-related incidents are keeping organizations up at night
- What’s creating friction as organizations scale AI
- How organizations are responding to AI-related incidents
- Where governance investment is headed next
2026 AI Governance Research and Data Based on OneTrust’s 2026 AI-Ready Governance Report, which surveyed 1,200 senior business decisionmakers across the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Spain, Australia, and Singapore:
- 87% of organizations encourage AI agent use, but only 47% have clear AI governance, oversight, and controls in place.
- 28% of organizations experienced two or more incidents in the past year in which AI systems or agents took unapproved actions.
- 86% of organizations experienced at least one AI-related incident in the past year.
- 27% of organizations slowed or paused AI deployment in response to AI-related incidents.
- 33% of organizations have seen employees use unapproved AI because approved AI tools or processes were not available quickly enough.
- 80% of organizations say their function spends more time managing AI-related risk than it did 12 months ago, with an average increase of 26% in working hours.
- 98% of organizations plan to increase budgets for AI governance technology in the next financial year, with an average planned increase of 25%.
TrustWeek 2026 OneTrust will bring together leaders and practitioners across privacy, security, data, AI, risk, compliance and marketing at TrustWeek 2026, taking place September 28–30 at The Cosmopolitan in Las Vegas. The three-day event will feature keynotes, breakout sessions, hands-on learning, certification training, and peer discussions focused on how organizations are adapting governance for the AI era. Register here.
To read OneTrust’s 2026 AI-Ready Governance Report, visit the website here.
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