Gartner, Inc., a research and advisory firm, reported that a low-growth economic environment remained the top emerging risk in the fourth quarter of 2025.
The findings come from the company’s Quarterly Emerging Risk Report, which gathers perspectives from enterprise risk management leaders, risk and assurance professionals, auditors and senior executives on developing and longer-term risks.
The fourth-quarter survey, conducted among 367 senior risk and assurance executives, found that economic conditions retained the highest ranking for the second consecutive quarter.
Respondents linked their concerns to financial instability, ongoing global trade tensions, labour market challenges, inflationary pressures and volatility in financial markets. These factors had also placed economic conditions at the top of the list in the third quarter of 2025. In addition to economic issues, risks associated with artificial intelligence were cited among the five most significant emerging threats identified by participants.
“The emerging risks in the fourth quarter of 2025 show both continued concern related to economic, geopolitical and environmental issues, and growing awareness of the potential organisational risk involved with the rapid growth of AI use inside and outside the organisation by good and bad actors alike,” commented Gamika Takkar, Director, Research, in the Gartner Risk & Audit Practice.
The report also highlights increased adoption of agentic AI, with many organisations planning broader implementation over the next two years. While the technology presents opportunities for automation and operational efficiency, it may also heighten existing AI-related risks, including bias, inaccurate outputs and potential data leakage.
“Agentic AI represents a major leap forward in enterprise automation and decision-making,” Takkar added. “Unlike traditional AI models that require human prompts, agentic AI systems operate autonomously, and as agentic AI systems gain more autonomy and complexity, human intervention becomes increasingly challenging, raising the stakes for risk management.”
According to the report, the expanding use of autonomous AI systems underscores the need for strengthened oversight, governance frameworks and risk management practices as organisations evaluate deployment strategies.
