A new, autonomous era of AI is emerging. Several experts in the technology sector discuss how agentic AI is poised to revolutionise how people work and interact with the technology.
Unlike generative AI, agentic systems are autonomous, meaning they can proactively make decisions and take actions. It might sound like the beginning of a robot revolution movie, but agentic AI is becoming increasingly common in the modern workplace.
It is perhaps unsurprising that many organisations are starting to integrate Agentic AI into their technology stack, considering the benefits it offers. As Jim Chappell, Global Head of AI and Advanced Analytics at AVEVA, put it: “The operational advantages of agentic AI are hard to overlook.”
“The technology can be integrated as an extension of pre-existing industrial technology stacks, allowing for its use in human output augmentation,” he explained.
“Its implementation can bring more scalable digital infrastructure, improved risk visibility, and faster decision-making cycles, all of which contribute to reduced downtime and heightened operational resilience.”
Mark Williams, Managing Director EMEA at WorkJam, added: “The evolution of agentic AI will allow organisations to move from using AI as an assistant in tasks, to leveraging AI to coordinate and architect more complex operations.
“By adopting such technology, organisations can enable more agile decision-making, boost operational efficiency, and empower their workforce by alleviating the cognitive load of unnecessary administrative tasks. The urgency for the integration of agentic AI into operations is only growing, as labour shortages, economic pressures and evolving customer expectations continue to pose a challenge.”
Industry use cases
With an array of benefits on offer and various ways to utilise agentic AI, the technology is not limited to specific industries. Williams reflects on his experience working with industries that employ frontline workers, such as retail and hospitality, and how agentic AI has the potential to be transformational.
Noting how these workforces can often be overlooked when it comes to new technology and digital transformation initiatives, he said: “Frontline employees are left to deal with manual processes and outdated tools, wasting valuable time, particularly among managers.
“The introduction of agentic AI is marking a transformative shift for the frontline, enabling systems that not only respond to prompts but also act autonomously, understand context, and seamlessly integrate workflows across previously disparate systems.”
When it comes to the logistics industry, where the market changes quickly and organisations need to adapt at speed, Roy Bridgland, Senior Industry Strategies Director EMEA at Blue Yonder, recognised: “Orchestrating, managing and interpreting all this data is a challenging task, and organisations are now looking to intelligent assistants, or AI agents, to enable automated decision-making.
“AI agents and agent-powered workflows are set to enhance the productivity of planners and empower organisations to respond faster to disruptive events, so they can keep their supply chain strategy on track.”
On the opposite end of the spectrum, with a typical workforce of desk workers, Russell Gammon, Chief Solutions Officer at Tax Systems, explains how accountants can also greatly benefit from agentic AI: “AI agents are designed to operate as team members within organisations, and carry out certain tasks that traditionally would’ve had to be delivered by more junior staff.
“Working in the likeness of an experienced tax professional, agentic AI can understand context, identify anomalies, and take appropriate next steps to carry out tasks autonomously.”
The end of the human worker?
Given its ability to think autonomously and make decisions independently, it is no surprise that the rise of agentic AI is fuelling concerns about AI replacing humans. In fact, AI agents can even collaborate and teach each other new skills and knowledge, posing a threat to replace entire teams and departments.
Gammon described: “Agentic AI also can train other agentic AI models. With this capability, you can deploy a specialist agent who has been deeply trained in a specific role. This ‘expert’ agent could then monitor and guide other agents to perform the same task, flagging errors and suggesting corrections if they get stuck.”
However, he claims that this will not eradicate the need for humans in the workplace for good: “While the autonomy of AI agents may make the threat to jobs seem more real, early evidence suggests that they are actually boosting employment numbers. Using AI as a tool to benefit human productivity, rather than replace it, will harmonise machine speed and scale with critical thinking and insight to supercharge productivity and efficiency.”
Chappell agreed, adding: “Human oversight will always be essential to clarify, adjust, and refine AI-generated insights and actions. AI is essentially the digital twin of humanity; striking the right balance between automation and human judgment is key to making safer, more effective decisions.”
While we may not be handing our jobs over to AI, the rise of Agentic AI will change our workplaces in ways we are familiar with today. Not quite a robot revolution movie, but in five years’ time, we may well be considering an AI agent as our co-worker.
