Fewer than half of organizations have trained employees to assess AI-generated outputs and determine when they should be trusted or challenged, according to Riskonnect’s 2026 New Generation of Risk Report. The research, based on a global survey of more than 250 risk, compliance, and resilience professionals, identifies significant shortcomings in AI governance and organizational preparedness for responsible AI adoption.
Key Findings from Riskonnect’s 2026 New Generation of Risk Report
- 46% of respondents say their organizations have trained employees to evaluate AI outputs.
- 66% of organizations have trained employees on rules, responsibilities, and defined roles for AI oversight and accountability.
- 72% of companies have established policies governing employee AI use, up from 58% in 2025.
- Economic risk has tied with cybersecurity as a leading corporate threat, with both cited by 55% of respondents.
- 74% of respondents currently use or plan to use AI for risk management, compared with 62% in 2024.
Only 17% of respondents feel very prepared to manage AI and AI governance risks. Although 66% of organizations provide training on AI oversight, accountability, and responsibilities, fewer offer practical instruction on applying AI safely and effectively.
Just 35% have trained employees to interpret and act on AI-driven insights, while only 18% have formally trained or briefed their entire workforce on the risks associated with agentic AI. Despite generative AI reaching the mass market nearly four years ago, only 35% of respondents say their organizations have trained or briefed all employees on generative AI risks.
“An AI policy sets the rules. Training gives employees the practical knowledge to apply those rules in their day-to-day work. As AI permeates every corner of the organization, employees need to know how to validate what AI gives them, recognize the risks, and make responsible decisions. Pairing strong governance and policies with useful training allows organizations to accelerate AI innovation while minimizing risk to the enterprise,” said Jim Wetekamp, Riskonnect’s CEO.
The report also highlights several other risk management challenges:
• AI policies lack sufficient specificity. Seventy-two percent of respondents report having a policy governing employee AI use, compared with 58% in 2025. However, only 54% say their organizations have clear policies and guidelines defining which AI tools employees may use and how they can use them.
• Organizations are falling behind on agentic AI risk assessments. Fifty-eight percent of companies considering the adoption of agentic AI solutions in their operations or products have not yet assessed the associated risks.
• Economic risk now rivals cybersecurity as a major corporate threat. The proportion of respondents reporting a “severe” or “significant” business impact from economic risk has reached 55%, matching cybersecurity. Cybersecurity had ranked as the leading corporate threat for the previous two years.
• Geopolitical instability is disrupting business operations. Respondents identified higher operating or production costs (65%), increased cybersecurity threats or attacks (58%), supply chain and shipping disruptions or delays (50%), and rising energy costs (49%) as the most significant effects of geopolitical volatility.
• Decisions made without risk team input are creating business disruptions. Forty-one percent of respondents say that, within the past year, another department made a risk-based decision without consulting the risk team, resulting in a significant and unforeseen disruption elsewhere in the business.
Risk Professionals Face Growing Pressure
Pressure on risk management professionals continues to intensify. Seventy-five percent of respondents say the demands of their roles have increased over the past year, with 37% describing the pressure as “high” or “extreme.” Despite these growing responsibilities, only 25% report an increase in their risk management technology budgets over the past six months, while 66% say their budgets have remained unchanged.
To manage expanding workloads and respond more quickly to emerging threats, risk teams are increasingly turning to AI. Seventy-four percent of respondents currently use or plan to use AI for risk management, up from 70% in 2025 and 62% in 2024.
The leading applications include risk assessment (37%), scenario planning and simulations (34%), and identifying previously overlooked risks (32%). Additionally, 31% of respondents say AI has helped their organizations identify gaps or weaknesses in internal processes or controls over the past 12 months.
“Risk teams are shouldering a lot more than a few years ago as risk velocity accelerates. The teams putting AI to work are best equipped to carry that load and prove how indispensable they are,” added Wetekamp.
Access the full report to explore the findings and examine the evolving challenges facing risk management professionals.
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About Riskonnect
Riskonnect is the leading provider of software that brings risk under one roof. The technology empowers organizations to anticipate, manage, and respond in real time to strategic and operational risks across the extended enterprise.
More than 2,700 customers across six continents partner with Riskonnect to gain previously unattainable insights that deliver better business outcomes. Riskonnect has more than 1,500 risk management experts in the Americas, Europe, and Asia-Pacific. To learn more, visit riskonnect.com
Media Contact: Amanda Coyne, Corporate Ink for Riskonnect, Riskonnect@corporateink.com
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