A new survey by Gartner, Inc. finds that by 2030, every bit of information-technology (IT) work will involve artificial intelligence (AI) — with 75 % of tasks performed by humans working with AI and 25 % carried out by AI alone. The research, based on responses from more than 700 CIOs, shows that zero % of IT work will be done by humans without any AI involvement. While Gartner emphasises that this isn’t a “jobs apocalypse” but a profound workforce transformation, the consultancy warns that many organisations are not ready to capture the value in terms of human skillsets, cost discipline and technical infrastructure. Amid the hype, Gartner further cautions that the majority of AI investments currently are not delivering expected returns, in part due to hidden costs, underscoring that IT leaders must prepare both their technology and their people to avoid a rocky transition.
Sources: Gartner.com, Intelligent CIO
Key Takeaways
– 75 % of IT work is projected to be done by humans augmented with AI and 25 % by AI alone by 2030, leaving zero IT tasks done solely by humans.
– This shift is about workforce transformation—not outright job cuts—but it demands major changes in skill sets, hiring practices (especially in low-complexity roles), training and organisational readiness.
– Many organisations are still under-prepared: human readiness (skills, culture) is lagging behind AI readiness (technology, budget) and hidden costs or unclear ROI are major stumbling blocks.
In-Depth
The way we think about IT work is headed for a major disruption. According to Gartner’s latest research, by 2030 the notion of IT tasks carried out entirely by human beings — with no AI involvement — will be obsolete. Instead, every piece of IT work will involve AI in some manner: 75 % will be humans working with AI, and roughly 25 % will be done by AI autonomously. This is not a distant speculation but a forecast based on over 700 CIOs surveyed in July 2025.
For IT leaders especially – system administrators, infrastructure teams, DevOps engineers – this development signals a fundamental shift. Much of the routine work of today — monitoring logs, responding to alerts, provisioning systems, generating code or configurations — is being targeted for augmentation or replacement by AI tools. Gartner insists this isn’t merely about replacing staff but about rethinking how work gets done, who does what, and what humans contribute. The keywords are “human readiness” and “AI readiness”: do we have the talent, culture, processes and mindset to integrate AI meaningfully? Do we have the infrastructure, tools, data pipelines and vendor-strategy to support it? The survey found many organisations lack both.
What does this mean in practical terms? For starters, roles that focus on repetitive, low-complexity tasks are most at risk of being trimmed (or transformed). Gartner recommends restraining hiring into those areas and instead repositioning talent into business-generating domains. Skillsets will evolve: summarisation, simple retrieval, translation — things common today — may recede in importance. In their place will be new abilities: guiding AI, evaluating its output, making decisions about when to rely on automated systems and when to intervene, being better communicators and strategic thinkers, not just task-doers. Organisations must build training programmes that extend beyond putting people through a short course in “AI tools”. They must ensure workers retain essential domain skills rather than atrophying into passive supervisors of opaque systems.
The financial and operational barriers are significant. Many companies are breaking even or even losing on their AI initiatives. Gartner estimates some organisations are not ready for the hidden costs: new datasets, model maintenance, governance, vendor lock-in, monitoring of AI accuracy, integration overhead, compliance burdens. Without strong human-process readiness, the tools alone will underdeliver. The message to conservative-minded executives: don’t buy AI as a shortcut to savings unless you’re ready to overhaul how your teams work. The value comes from aligning the strategy, the people and the technology.
In the context of IT operations — the backbone of most businesses — this is a call to action. Administrators and managers must start planning now: assess what tasks can be augmented by AI, consider how roles will evolve, invest in retraining and change management, and build resilience into processes so that humans and machines complement each other. The companies that stumble here risk not just wasted investment, but disruption in critical IT services. On the flip-side, those who prepare themselves stand to gain: faster response times, reduced manual toil, freed-up human capital for higher-value work, and competitive advantage as the digital economy becomes ever more AI-infused.
In short, AI in IT is not a speculative possibility — it’s the forecast. And the time to prepare is now.