As AI adoption accelerates across the globe, organisations are confronting new security challenges, redefining identity management and navigating the emergence of AI agents and non-human identities (NHIs).

This is according to Okta, which explored how business leaders around the world are adopting and thinking about AI in the workplace in its new survey.

The research uncovers a complex landscape where efficiency and speed are top priorities but security remains critical to realising AI’s full value.

Security and Identity Are Top Priorities

Globally, AI adoption has surged from 64% to 80% in the past year, with 62% of organisations citing security or threat detection as their top AI goal for the year ahead.

In EMEA, AI adoption closely matches the global rate, but country-level variation is significant, France is leading with 83%, followed by Germany (77%), the Netherlands (70%), and the UK (70%). Despite this, only 9% of global respondents describe themselves as “very prepared” to defend against AI-driven threats.

Eighty-five per cent of global respondents new view Identity and Access Management (IAM) as important to their security posture, up from 79% last year. While the percentage of companies using AI for security purposes slightly decreased from 71% in 2024 to 65% in 2025, the proportion of respondents who ‘strongly agree’ with the view that “AI is the best defence against AI” rose sharply from 18% to 41%.

In EMEA specifically, the use of AI for security remains strong, with 70% of UK organisations exploring AI-driven security solutions, and France (63%), Germany (57%) and the Netherlands (57%) also showing uptake. These figures, while high, still trail global leaders such as the US and India.

Rapid growth in AI agents and NHIs

In 2025, 42% of organisations globally report widespread use of NHIs across multiple business functions, with an additional 55% noting moderate use in specific cases. In EMEA, widespread adoption is lower at 22.5%, with the Netherlands leading at 30% and the UK, France and Germany each at 20%.

AI agents are increasingly complementing human workforces. The most common benefit from integrating with AI agents is increased productivity, followed by cost savings. For 2025, 47% of companies expect AI agents to have a moderate impact on operational efficiency, and 55% believe these agents will complement human roles, while only 5% see AI agents replacing human workers. Top trends for AI agents include automating repetitive tasks, enhancing customer service and optimising workflows.

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Security and governance challenges

The primary security concern related to AI agents over the next three years is governance and oversight, cited by 58% of organisations, followed by compliance and regulatory requirements at 50%. Securing NHIs is now a critical or very significant priority for 76% of organisations globally, with 78% citing control of NHI access and permissions as their leading concern.

Access management and visibility are top needs for managing NHIs, with APIs and tokens rated most important, just ahead of service accounts. 89% of respondents globally say they have at least an intermediate understanding of NHIs, with 20% claiming expert knowledge. Despite this, 42% of organisations admit they have only limited exploration or awareness of a formal strategy for managing NHIs.

Organisations are responding with improved governance. 36% now have a centralised AI governance model, and another 42% have one in progress. 32% of organisations always treat digital labour forces with the same degree of governance as human workforces, and a further 25% do so often. Despite this, only 10% of organisations have a governance strategy in place for managing NHIs, while 91% are already deploying AI agents.

“The rise of AI agents and non-human identities (NHI) underscores the urgent need for new security and governance frameworks. AI adoption is more than a technical upgrade – to maximise its strategic value, organisations must define clear use cases and build solid foundations from the start,” said Stephen McDermid, EMEA CSO at Okta.

“Whether it’s using AI for customer support interactions, sales & marketing initiatives or security enhancements, identity is fundamental to how businesses will optimise their use of AI, whilst also keeping their data safe.”