Gartner forecasts a major shift towards autonomous supply chain management by 2031, with AI expected to resolve the majority of disruptions, transforming resilience and operational models amid increasing geopolitical uncertainties.
Gartner forecasts that by 2031 a majority of supply chain interruptions will be handled autonomously, with 60% resolved without human intervention as artificial intelligence grows more capable of sensing and acting in real time. The predictio...
Continue Reading This Article
Enjoy this article as well as all of our content, including reports, news, tips and more.
By registering or signing into your SRM Today account, you agree to SRM Today's Terms of Use and consent to the processing of your personal information as described in our Privacy Policy.
n, published by the research firm, frames autonomy as the next stage in supply‑chain resilience as geopolitical tensions and trade uncertainty increase the frequency and complexity of shocks.
“As more frequent and complex disruptions continue to test response capacity, organizations are moving toward AI that can sense and act in real time to improve the consistency and speed of decisions,” said Julia von Massow, Director Analyst in Gartner’s Supply Chain practice. Gartner’s own research, including a survey of 509 supply‑chain leaders conducted in October 2025, shows many chief supply‑chain officers either already experimenting with agentic AI or planning deployments within two years.
Gartner advises executives to broaden autonomy deliberately, beginning with low‑risk decisions while strengthening data quality, governance and contingency protocols. The firm stresses that higher‑stakes choices should, for the foreseeable future, remain human‑in‑the‑loop to avoid unacceptable exposure, allowing organisations to build the foundations needed for wider automation over time.
The forecast sits alongside other Gartner projections that together sketch a rapid shift in how supply chains operate. According to Gartner, half of cross‑functional supply‑chain management solutions will include agentic AI by 2030, creating software capable of assuming end‑to‑end tasks across planning, execution and exception handling. The firm also predicts that 70% of large organisations will adopt AI‑based forecasting for demand prediction by 2030, enabling “touchless forecasting” that reduces routine manual inputs.
But Gartner warns that technology alone will not guarantee value. The company projects that 60% of digital supply‑chain adoption efforts will fall short of promised outcomes by 2028 unless firms protect learning and development budgets and adopt agile approaches to skills development. That caution is echoed by commentary in Forbes which argues that successful AI transformation hinges on keeping humans in control, integrating systems tightly and upskilling teams to work alongside intelligent tools.
The move to automation will reshape operating models and talent mixes. Gartner predicts that by 2030 one in 20 supply‑chain managers will be responsible for robots rather than people, reflecting investments in robotics to counteract labour shortages and rising costs. Industry analysis published by Velocity3PL highlights how agentic AI can shift decision‑making from reactive to proactive, with some vendors claiming autonomous systems can handle a large share of routine decisions and improve resilience against geopolitical risk.
Gartner recommends CSCOs own an enterprise‑wide AI roadmap aligned to disruption management, invest in data governance, budget for change management and create rapid escalation plans for autonomous decision failures. The firm also urges ongoing measurement of autonomy’s emotional and performance impacts on staff to guide responsible scaling.
Taken together, these forecasts portray a near future in which supply chains are more intelligent and more automated, yet dependent on substantial investments in governance, talent and contingency planning if the promised resilience and cost benefits are to materialise.
Source: Noah Wire Services
