Agentic AI 101: Understanding the Next Wave of AI by WOMEN x AI

AI Transparency: This article was written by Jenny Kay Pollock, Co-Founder and Co-CEO of WOMENxAI in collaboration with AI  tools like Perplexity, Google Learn About, NotebookLM, Napkin AI and Adobe Firefly. 

Created with Adobe Firefly

What is Agentic AI?

Agentic AI is a type of artificial intelligence that can make decisions and take actions by itself to achieve specific goals, without needing constant instructions and supervision from humans.

Unlike traditional AI tools which give you outputs you can use, AI agents are empowered to take action on the outputs for you.

For example, you might use Chat-GPT to help you write an email, but with an AI agent, it would generate and send the email for you. 

Here's how Agentic AI works:

1. It gathers information from its surroundings, just like how you use your senses to understand what's happening around you.

   1. It thinks about this information using Machine Learning algorithms.

   2. It makes decisions based on what it has learned.

2. It takes actions to accomplish its goals. 

   1. This could be things like responding to emails or making appointments

3. It learns from its experiences and gets better over time.

   1. It listens to your feedback to improve.

Some cool things Agentic AI can do:

• Act as a personal assistant, managing your schedule and helping with tasks.

• Drive autonomous vehicles, making decisions about navigation and safety.

• Help doctors by analyzing patient data and suggesting treatments.

Agentic AI is different from other types of AI because it can handle many different tasks and adapt to new situations, instead of just doing one specific job over and over. It's like having a smart helper that can figure out what needs to be done and how to do it, even if the situation changes.

Key Features of Agentic AI

Created with Napkin AI

1. Autonomy: Agentic AI systems can operate independently, making decisions based on their programming and learned experiences.

2. Goal-oriented behavior: These AI agents work towards specific objectives, adapting their strategies as needed.

3. Continuous learning: Agentic AI improves its performance over time through machine learning techniques.

4. Multi-agent collaboration: Multiple AI agents can work together to solve complex problems.

Business Applications

Agentic AI has numerous potential applications across industries:

1. Financial Services: Automated trading, risk assessment, and portfolio management.

2. Customer Service: Responding to customer inquiries and resolving issues without human intervention.

3. Supply Chain Management: Optimizing inventory levels and logistics in real-time.

4. Healthcare: Discovery of new medicines and personalized treatment recommendations.

Challenges and Considerations

While Agentic AI is exciting and can be very helpful, it's important to remember that it also raises questions about who is responsible when these AI systems make decisions, especially if something goes wrong. As this technology continues to develop, we need to think carefully about how to use it safely and ethically.

Agentic AI is poised to transform the business landscape. These AI agents are designed to make decisions, complete tasks, and interact with other systems or humans with minimal human intervention. While agentic AI offers significant benefits, businesses must also consider:

1. Ethical implications: Ensuring AI decisions align with human values and corporate ethics.

2. Transparency: Understanding how AI agents make decisions for accountability.

3. Security: Protecting AI systems from manipulation or unauthorized access.

4. Human-AI collaboration: Designing systems that complement human skills rather than replace them entirely.

   
   

To learn more about agentic AI check out, "What is Agentic AI," by Nvidia. As agentic AI continues to evolve, businesses that effectively integrate these technologies will gain a significant competitive advantage in their respective markets.