One in 10 reported technology incidents now involves artificial intelligence (AI), according to a new report. The analysis of company incident records suggests that AI is evolving faster than many organisations’ ability to manage the operational, governance and resilience risks it creates.
Businesses have spent the past two years accelerating artificial intelligence (AI) adoption in pursuit of greater productivity, innovation and competitive advantage. New research suggests many organisations are now entering a new phase of the AI journey—one where managing AI-related risks may prove just as important as deploying the technology itself.
A new report from StackGen suggests AI is becoming an increasingly significant source of operational disruption. Researchers found that AI-related incidents have risen sharply over the past three years and now account for more than one in 10 publicly reported technology incidents among AI providers and AI application companies.
The findings point to a broader shift taking place across organisations. As AI becomes embedded in everyday business operations, leaders are no longer simply managing technology adoption. They are also being asked to manage new risks around governance, resilience, third-party dependencies and autonomous AI systems.
RAPID AI ADVANCEMENT AT WORK
The research reinforces a growing body of evidence highlighted by Fair Play Talks showing that organisations are investing rapidly in AI while governance, workforce readiness and leadership capability struggle to keep pace.
Recent studies have highlighted how employees are adopting AI faster than employers can govern it, why HR leaders believe businesses are underestimating the people challenges of AI, and how many organisations remain focused on preparing employees to use today’s AI tools rather than the new jobs AI is expected to create tomorrow. Together, these reports suggest AI is advancing more quickly than many organisations’ ability to manage the organisational risks it creates.
AI-RELATED INCIDENTS RISING RAPIDLY
According to the StackGen report, AI-related incidents increased from 1.7% of publicly disclosed technology incidents in 2023 to 10.7% in 2026, representing an approximate six-fold increase in just three years. Researchers note the figure is likely to underestimate AI’s wider impact because it only includes incidents involving AI providers and AI application companies. It does not capture AI-related failures occurring within organisations using AI as part of their own operations.
The findings suggest AI is no longer simply an emerging technology trend. It is becoming an increasingly important operational and business resilience issue. Beyond the increase in AI-related incidents, the report highlights how AI is changing the nature of technology failures.
NEW AI RISKS
The report highlights that AI is creating new categories of operational risk. In fact, researchers identify three broad categories of emerging risk:
- Greater dependence on third-party AI providers, meaning outages can rapidly affect multiple downstream organisations.
- AI-generated outputs that appear normal but produce inaccurate or misleading information.
- Autonomous AI agents capable of taking actions inside live environments that create unintended operational disruption.
The report highlights publicly documented incidents involving autonomous AI systems acting within production environments, reinforcing the importance of human oversight, governance and carefully controlled permissions.
These findings build on earlier studies showing that employees are increasingly using consumer AI tools outside approved organisational systems, highlighting that governance challenges extend beyond technology infrastructure to the way AI is adopted across the workforce. They also complement recent research showing two-thirds of employees spend up to six hours each week correcting poor-quality AI-generated work, demonstrating that AI can introduce new operational and quality challenges alongside productivity gains.
GROWING RELIANCE ON THIRD PARTIES
The report also highlights growing reliance on external technology providers. More than one in four incidents analysed originated outside the affected organisation, at suppliers or technology providers beyond the company’s direct control.
According to the research:
- Third-party incidents took a median 247 minutes to resolve.
- Internally caused configuration issues were resolved in a median 96 minutes.
Researchers cite the October 2025 AWS outage as an example of how disruption at a single provider can cascade across hundreds of organisations, affecting digital services, customer experience and revenue. The findings suggest operational resilience is becoming increasingly dependent on understanding external technology relationships as well as internal systems.
Despite AI introducing new categories of operational risk, the report suggests recovery performance has remained broadly unchanged. Many organisations continue relying on familiar approaches such as restarting systems, rolling back deployments or waiting for upstream providers to restore services.
Researchers warn that unless operational practices evolve alongside AI adoption, incident volumes may continue increasing faster than organisations’ ability to respond. The findings also reinforce previous Fair Play Talks reporting showing that businesses are under growing pressure to demonstrate measurable returns from AI investment. Earlier research found seven in 10 organisations could reduce AI spending if returns fail to meet expectations, suggesting resilience and reliability may become increasingly important measures of AI success.
WHAT EMPLOYERS SHOULD DO NEXT
The findings suggest organisations should treat AI governance as a strategic business capability rather than solely an IT responsibility. Employers should consider:
- Embedding AI governance within enterprise risk management.
- Reviewing reliance on third-party AI and cloud providers as part of business continuity planning.
- Establishing clear governance for autonomous AI systems, including permissions, approvals and human oversight.
- Strengthening AI-specific monitoring, incident response and resilience planning.
- Providing leaders and managers with practical training on AI governance and organisational risk.
- Developing clear policies covering both enterprise AI platforms and employee use of consumer AI tools.
- Measuring AI success through resilience, trust, governance and business outcomes—not productivity alone.
These recommendations align with previous Fair Play Talks reporting on responsible AI business practices, which emphasised balancing innovation with transparency, accountability and employee trust.
WHY THIS MATTERS
This latest research adds to a growing body of Fair Play Talks reporting exploring how artificial intelligence is reshaping workforce readiness, leadership, governance, operational resilience and responsible business. Recent studies have shown that employees are adopting AI faster than employers can govern it, HR teams are carrying increasing responsibility for AI transformation, managers are being asked to lead through unprecedented change, and many organisations continue to face significant governance and workforce readiness gaps.
The StackGen findings add another critical dimension to that picture: operational resilience. As AI becomes embedded across critical business systems, organisations must prepare not only for the opportunities AI creates but also for the new risks it introduces – from third-party dependencies and autonomous AI agents to new forms of operational disruption.
The next phase of AI adoption will be defined not simply by how quickly organisations innovate, but by how effectively they govern AI, build resilient systems and equip their people to manage an increasingly AI-enabled world. For employers, the organisations most likely to succeed will be those that invest in governance, leadership and resilience with the same urgency as they invest in the technology itself.
Read the full State of Reliability 2026 report here.
RELATED ARTICLES
Businesses are investing heavily in AI, but many may be underestimating the workforce changes needed to make those investments succeed, according to new global research.
HR teams are buckling under mounting AI pressures, with 95% of HR leaders reporting rising workloads while three in four organisations still have no AI workforce plan, according to new UK research.
Employers are teaching staff how to use today’s AI tools but not preparing them for the jobs AI will create tomorrow, according to new global research.
Two-thirds of employees say they spend up to six hours a week fixing low-quality, AI-generated work, according to study.
A new study has highlighted need for responsible AI practices.
Global study finds companies accelerating AI adoption despite weak leadership readiness, trust gaps and rising pressure to prove ROI from workplace AI investments.
Despite the increasing use of AI at work, only 56% of companies educate their employees on its risks, revealed a new report.
Sign up for our newsletter
