BARC The State of Data and AI Governance: Study 2026
AI is in production.
Governance isn't.
BARC surveyed 234 data, AI, IT and business leaders. 97% have AI in production. 66% had an AI-related incident in the past year. Get the full report.
Key findings
97% have AI in production
66% had an AI-related incident in the past 12 months
60% say their governance beats their peers'. Only 29% meet BARC's bar for an AI Leader.
59% rely on human sign-off to control AI agents. BARC says that "will not scale."
26% use AI model monitoring and observability tools. Just 10% have governance tools for agents.
What you'll learn
Where governance programs stand across data, models and agents
The AI incidents organizations are actually experiencing
What AI Leaders do differently
How teams control AI agents today, and why human sign-off alone won't hold
How North America and EMEA compare
BARC's six recommendations for making governance an operating model
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