Companies are interested in adopting artificial intelligence agents, but still face difficulties in getting started.
Leaders are excited to implement proactive artificial intelligence.
As artificial intelligence increasingly integrates into business operations, companies are tending to delegate a greater number of processes to the more autonomous side of this technology. A study reveals that 58% of workers are already using some type of AI agents. On the other hand, another analysis from an AI technology company shows that an impressive 93% of IT executives express a strong interest in agentic AI. Moreover, more than two-thirds of these executives have indicated that they are using or plan to use AI agents in the next six months.
The evolution towards agentic AI is notable, as it has been shown that artificial intelligence saves workers a considerable amount of weekly hours by taking over repetitive and routine tasks. Employees are excited about the possibility of these agents automating their tasks, summarizing meetings more efficiently, improving oversight of business workflows, and, in general, reducing the time workers spend searching for information related to their jobs.
However, while some companies like Salesforce are heavily investing in agentic AI, several obstacles persist. According to UiPath, the most common concerns among IT executives focus on cybersecurity issues (56%), implementation costs (37%), and integration with existing systems (35%). Additionally, Pega identified that the lack of trust in AI’s ability to autonomously replace humans also poses a significant challenge. This includes doubts about AI's work quality (33%), the lack of human intuition and empathy (32%), and AI-generated responses that may prove unreliable (30%).
In the words of Daniel Dines, CEO of UiPath, "as AI systems become more autonomous, companies must find a balance between autonomy and human oversight to avoid unintended consequences and ensure that AI-driven actions adhere to ethical, compliance, and legal standards."
With the future in mind, it is clear that better education and transparency are required to encourage the adoption of agentic AI, as well as careful consideration of the balance between AI autonomy and human oversight. With the right approach, 46% of respondents surveyed by Pega believe that AI will positively impact their jobs in the next five years. As Don Schuerman, CTO of Pega, added, "organizations must integrate with employees by incorporating AI agents into real workflows, not just to do any job, but to do the right job."
