Machine identities now dwarf human identities by a staggering 82 to 1. CyberArk's 2025 research revealed the imbalance, highlighting a critical security challenge. Legacy Identity and Access Management (IAM) systems, designed for human users, are struggling to manage the explosion of AI agents and other machine identities.

The surge is recent and rapid. Microsoft Copilot Studio users created over 1 million AI agents in a single quarter of 2025, a 130% increase. These AI agents don't just authenticate; they act, performing tasks and accessing sensitive data. Security experts fear this lack of governance. Gartner predicts that 25% of enterprise breaches will trace back to AI agent abuse by 2028.

Enterprises are scrambling to adapt. ServiceNow spent $11.6 billion on security acquisitions in 2025, signaling a shift towards identity-centric security for AI. The focus is on controlling AI risk through robust identity management.

Traditional IAM systems, including Active Directory, LDAP, and early PAM, were built for a human-centric world. Developers often create over-permissioned service accounts due to slow cloud IAM and pressure to prioritize speed. This creates vulnerabilities.

The future demands a new approach. Experts believe identity, not models, is becoming the control plane for enterprise AI risk. The industry must develop IAM solutions that can handle the scale and complexity of machine identities to prevent widespread breaches.