Workday Acquires C1.ai to Govern Human and AI Identities
Workday signed a definitive agreement to acquire C1.ai to automate real-time access and identity governance for human employees and autonomous AI agents.
Workday, Inc. signed a definitive agreement on October 13, 2026, to acquire C1.ai, an agentic identity platform. The acquisition, announced at the Workday Rising 2026 event, aims to integrate identity governance into Workday's HR, finance, and IT systems to manage access permissions for both human employees and AI agents in real time.
This move coincides with Workday's launch of Autopilot Agents and a headless platform, which allow AI agents to independently handle payroll, hiring, accounting, and compliance. While a Talent Acquisition Agent is available to early adopters, most agents will reach general availability in early 2027. The C1.ai integration is designed to replace manual IT ticketing and spreadsheet-based management by establishing a governance layer across connected systems, including cloud infrastructure and CRM.
Workday President of Product and Technology Gerrit Kazmaier stated the acquisition will help secure a combined workforce of people and AI agents. C1.ai CEO and co-founder Alex Bovee noted that enterprises cannot secure the AI era using traditional IT tickets. The transaction is expected to close in the fourth quarter of Workday's fiscal year 2027, which ends January 31, 2027.
