At the Gartner IT Symposium/Xpo in Kochi, industry analysts warned that while enterprises rush to adopt generative AI, many are overlooking hidden risks that could derail long-term success. Arun Chandrasekaran, Distinguished VP Analyst at Gartner, cautioned that GenAI’s rapid evolution—combined with hype—makes it difficult for CIOs to anticipate second- and third-order consequences. By 2030, these blind spots will separate organizations that scale AI safely from those that become locked-in, non-compliant, or internally disrupted.
Gartner highlighted major areas of concern including the rapid rise of shadow AI, mounting technical debt, increasing sovereignty requirements, erosion of critical human skills, and deepening ecosystem lock-in. A survey of cybersecurity leaders found that 69% suspect or have evidence of employees using prohibited GenAI tools, exposing enterprises to data leaks and compliance failures. Meanwhile, AI-generated code, content and design—if poorly governed—can significantly inflate long-term maintenance costs.
To mitigate these risks, Gartner advises CIOs to establish strict AI usage policies, audit for unsanctioned tools, embed sovereignty and compliance into AI strategies, track AI-related technical debt, preserve human expertise, and adopt modular, interoperable architectures that reduce dependency on a single vendor.
“CIOs who address both the visible and invisible challenges of GenAI today will be the ones who secure sustainable value tomorrow,” Chandrasekaran concluded.
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