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Key developments:
- Gartner’s latest survey shows that autonomous AI‑driven planning will stay limited, with just 5% of firms expected to let AI make at least 10% of decisions by 2030, underscoring that AI is still an assistive tool rather than a decision‑maker.
- Analysts warn that heavy spending on automation does not automatically create AI readiness; organisations must first establish data, talent and technology foundations before scaling AI‑enabled planning.
- Meanwhile, pressure on supply chains is intensifying. The 2024 McKinsey Global Supply Chain Leader Survey revealed that 90% of senior leaders faced disruptions, and a 2025 McKinsey risk survey showed three‑quarters are only piloting AI, with just 19% deploying it at scale.
- AI’s real value is being seen in improved visibility and faster, data‑driven responses, but it hinges on trustworthy, real‑time information across the network.
Why it matters:
- The modest adoption rates highlighted by Gartner signal that human oversight will remain essential, especially for strategic choices like network design and inventory policy.
- Without robust data quality, decision ownership, and skilled planners, large AI investments risk delivering little improvement in planning outcomes.
- The gap between pilot projects and full‑scale deployment points to a broader industry challenge: translating AI pilots into operational impact while maintaining resilience.
What to watch next:
- Companies that successfully build foundational data and talent pipelines may accelerate AI uptake beyond the 5% Gartner benchmark.
- Tracking the shift from pilot to production in the next year’s McKinsey surveys will reveal whether AI deployment scales past the current 19%.
- Emerging AI‑driven orchestration platforms and agentic solutions (e.g., GoodData.AI’s Agentic Serving Plane) could address the “plumbing” bottleneck and enable higher‑volume, trustworthy AI actions across supply chains. [[1, 2]]