Recent research commissioned by Red Hat indicates that a substantial proportion of UK IT leaders are operating without comprehensive artificial intelligence governance frameworks. This gap has implications for organisational readiness, regulatory compliance, and the deployment of AI.
The survey, conducted by Censuswide across 500 IT leaders in the UK, France, Germany, and Italy, identifies a difference between AI deployment and organisational control. While 87 per cent of business IT leaders report that their organisations are using agentic AI, only a quarter report having a strong governance framework in place.
The findings also indicate that some organisations in the UK have limited oversight of their data, infrastructure, and relationships with AI providers. As AI adoption increases, this may affect how organisations manage these areas. Despite ongoing concerns about AI sovereignty and vendor control, around one-third of organisations do not have an AI exit strategy, which could affect their ability to switch providers without disruption.
For 43 per cent of organisations, changing AI providers is expected to have a ‘moderate to significant’ business impact. The findings highlight the role of governance in maintaining oversight of where AI systems operate.
The survey also shows that UK respondents report a high level of interest in public policy related to AI sovereignty. 89 per cent of British IT leaders support regulation that enforces open-source principles, compared with 70 per cent in France and 72 per cent in Germany. Eight in ten decision-makers report that organisations should have greater control over building AI systems through open AI approaches, particularly as many major AI suppliers are based in the United States.
