Business and technology leaders continue to use automation to augment and sometimes replace human labor. Enthusiasm has surged for AI agents in software and humanoid robots in the physical world. There is clear potential for both, but hype and hope have outpaced thoughtful deployment and sustainable returns on investment. In 2027, many of the more overenthusiastic early bets on automation will be rolled back, while physical AI’s promise to combine elements of hardware and cognitive automation will create new opportunities and challenges. Forrester’s automation and robotics predictions for 2027 point to three shifts:

Enterprises will revert 20% of agentic workflows to deterministic processes to save money. In 2027, companies will admit that some of their early AI experiments haven’t delivered ROI. Infrastructure, documentation, and data automation (seen as important by 84% of automation decision-makers in Forrester’s Automation Survey, 2025) don’t always need AI to cut costs and boost productivity.…