Forrester Predicts Rise of Shadow AI and Governance Risks in APAC

Forrester released its 2027 Asia Pacific predictions, noting that one in three large APAC enterprises is expected to have at least 10 employee-built shadow AI agents for every officially sanctioned agent. This proliferation, combined with embedded SaaS capabilities, is predicted to outpace institutional controls and create AI-driven technical debt, including unmanaged risk and duplicated capabilities. The report also predicts that one in five large, regulated enterprises will approve Chinese open-weight models, as minimum viable sovereignty expands beyond data residency to model and inference control.

The predictions detail significant shifts in corporate technology governance and risk management within the region. The increasing use of personal AI agents in the workplace, which may blur professional and personal boundaries, could lead to security incidents at large companies. Furthermore, the growing approval of self-hosted Chinese models reflects a shift toward operational sovereignty in AI deployment.