This IBM-sponsored IDC Spotlight argues that APIs are the critical connective tissue for AI adoption, but most organizations face severe API sprawl, poor visibility, and unmanaged risk just as AI usage accelerates. IDC finds nearly one-third of operational APIs are unmanaged, creating security, governance, and AI-readiness gaps, while many firms lack tools to even detect them. As AI agents and RAG depend on APIs for contextual data, enterprise-grade API management becomes essential for discovery, cataloging, governance, security, and runtime monitoring across REST, GraphQL, and asynchronous APIs. Modern platforms increasingly embed AI to automate documentation, testing, discovery, and policy enforcement, improving developer productivity and standardization. The report concludes that taming API sprawl with unified, AI-enhanced API management is foundational to secure, scalable, AI-first architectures and better business outcomes.

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