IFS polled 2,200 industrial bosses on AI. Only 4% require human sign-off.
IFS, the industrial software company, published its Industrial Index 2026 on 13 October at its IFS Unleashed event.
It surveyed over 2,200 senior decision makers in 14 countries. The release does not say whether every question went to all of them.
Over 70% of organisations said they were confident in their safety and data policies. Only 4% have made human oversight or approval mandatory for decisions supported by AI.
Only 11% have checked AI outputs in safety-, quality- or mission-critical processes, and only 11% have controls for AI use with sensitive or export-controlled data.
The same survey says 43% trained and introduced AI agents, which IFS calls "agentic digital workers", into daily operations over the past 12 months.
On the same day IFS introduced its "Industrial AI Harness", which it describes as the operational foundation for running AI in heavy industry. The release does not name the research firm or give the dates of the fieldwork.
"Leadership cannot afford to lag," said Cathie Hall, IFS's chief product and customer officer.
On your plant floor, which AI decision would you insist a person signs off?
Image: AI-generated.
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