40% of services will be AI-augmented by 2028: Gartner

AI layoffs and autonomous business may lead to savings for organisations; however, to improve ROI, they must invest in skills, roles, and operating models to guide and scale AI and amplify human roles, Gartner has said.

According to Gartner’s report, AI Layoffs Aren’t Paying Off; People Amplification Is, all autonomous business practices lead to reported workforce reductions. The impacts of use cases included a 14 per cent reduction in augmented management and autonomous operations, a 20 per cent reduction when a programmable economy is established, and 15 per cent when auto-adapting products or machine customers are implemented.

Gartner describes autonomous business as AI-powered autonomy. It noted that an augmented workforce is a key feature of an autonomous business, in which machines handle menial tasks, while people solve problems and build relationships.

To facilitate business growth amid an augmented workforce, Gartner stressed that workers must be trained to oversee smart systems to ensure that decisions align with company values, in light of its prediction that 40 per cent of services will be AI-augmented by 2028.

“A key differentiator between organisations with high versus low ROI from implementing autonomous technologies is that higher-performing organisations invest more aggressively in people-centric capabilities, such as autonomous technology literacy and role transformation,” it said.

Gartner predicted that autonomous business will be a net-positive job creator by 2028 to 2029, driven by new forms of work that AI cannot absorb. According to its report, 32 per cent of respondents expected their organisations to use AI to assist with human decisions, and 27 per cent expected their organisations to use AI to make decisions with minimal or no human involvement.

It said that through technologies such as AI agents, intelligent automation, RPA, digital twins, and tokenised assets, autonomous business will move organisations from simple augmentation and automation to true autonomy for both machines and humans, creating a human-amplified business.

The company’s distinguished VP analyst, Helen Poitevin (pictured), said: “Many CEOs turn to layoffs to demonstrate quick AI returns; however, this disposition is misplaced.

“Workforce reductions may create budget room, but they do not create returns. Organisations that improve ROI are not those that eliminate the need for people, but those that amplify them by aggressively investing more in skills, roles, and operating models that allow humans to guide and scale autonomous systems.”

Gartner said: “Organisations risk overinvesting in autonomy as a labour replacement and underinvesting in the people who ultimately make autonomous business successful.”

Further, approximately 80 per cent reported workforce reductions, according to Gartner’s survey of 350 global business executives in large companies that used AI agents, intelligent automation, or autonomous technologies in the third quarter of 2025.

According to Gartner’s forecasts, AI agent software spending will reach $206.5 billion in 2026 and $376.3 billion in 2027, up from $86.4 billion in 2025.

“Long term, autonomous business will create more work for humans, not less. Lasting structural factors such as demographic decline and high-stakes, trust-dependent consumer moments will ensure human talent remains central to running, governing, and scaling autonomous business,” said Poitevin.

Carlos Tse

Carlos Tse is a graduate journalist writing for Accountants Daily, HR Leader, Lawyers Weekly.

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