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Agentic AI: What it is, Where it’s Working and What Comes Next

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Agentic AI refers to software that can pursue a goal, plan the steps, call tools or APIs and take action with guardrails while keeping track of what happened. If traditional AI assistants wait for prompts, agents move work forward. They handle routine tasks, ask for review when needed, then continue until a result is delivered. Analysts and platform teams now describe agents as systems that combine reasoning, memory and tool use to complete end-to-end workflows rather than single responses, so that the human-in-the-loop spends less time on orchestration and more time on judgment. McKinsey & Company+1

What’s changed (and changing) in 2025

Since January, production-grade agents have matured, and distribution has widened. Microsoft introduced the Agent Store inside Microsoft 365 Copilot, which places ready-to-use agents where people already write, analyze and share. Amazon Web Services launched Bedrock AgentCore in preview, adding long-running job capability, identity controls and tool catalogs to help teams run agents safely at scale. Opera shipped Neon, a browser marketed as “agentic,” focusing on acting on pages instead of simply reading them. On the security side, Google previewed an alert-triage agent inside Google Security Operations that investigates alerts, gathers context and proposes a verdict with a transparent trail so that agents easier to find, govern and trust as daily tools. Google Cloud+3Microsoft+3Amazon Web Services, Inc.+3

Instant Checkout lets U.S. ChatGPT users buy from Etsy inside the chat, with Shopify support rolling out, in a great example of an e-commerce agent taking a task from intent to outcome. The experience covers discovery, selection and payment in one place, which turns a conversation into a completed order without redirects. Reuters+1 Instant Checkout demonstrates end-to-end shopping inside a chat surface, and this model will expand as more merchants plug in. The practical effect is faster movement from interest to purchase with fewer handoffs. As retailers add volume and channels, agent-driven flows scale without redesigning every step. Wall Street Journal+1

Security operations are using agents to shrink investigation time. Google’s previewed triage agent enriches alerts, pulls evidence and proposes a decision that an analyst can accept or revise, decreasing mean time to respond, especially during surges when manual triage falls behind. Microsoft is steering Sentinel and Security Copilot toward a model where teams can create governed agents that act inside familiar tools. Google Cloud+1

Cognition’s January update to their Devin AI software development tool focused on repository-level reasoning and enterprise controls, making it easier to hand agents bigger units of work. Walmart’s WIBEY, a developer “super-agent” on its Element platform, is a shared agent layer for common engineering tasks, yielding less repetition, steadier maintenance on legacy code and better documentation of changes for their internal development teams. Cognition+1

Contact centers are fertile test beds for autonomous workflows. Microsoft has three Dynamics 365 service agents in public preview that will be used for intent discovery, case management and knowledge upkeep. Cisco highlighted agentic features at its WebexOne 2025 developer’s forum, from notetakers to task agents and an AI receptionist. Voice agents now greet callers, capture intent and route with context while adjusting tone to brand standards, be it professional, casual, authoritative or something in between. The metrics that matter, though, are shorter handling times with higher customer satisfaction. Microsoft+1

Health systems care about staffing shortages and administrative load, so agents that reduce back-and-forth without cutting quality are the focus. Epic has outlined agent use across charting, revenue cycle and patient-facing tasks. Startups like Ellipsis Health are deploying care-management agents that check on patients, summarize issues and escalate when necessary. Healthcare IT News+1

How to get value now

Agents work best in processes with high repetition and clear outcomes such as security alert enrichment, after-call summaries, status updates, vendor onboarding and routine data pulls. Choose a platform that supports identity-aware tool use, audit trails and longer jobs so agents do not lose context mid-flow. Microsoft’s Agent Store lowers discovery friction inside the workspace. AWS’s AgentCore adds the capability to run agents for hours when provided with the right guardrails. Google’s SecOps previews show the benefit of domain-specific patterns where evidence and decisions are logged for later review. Track efficacy in time-saved to a closed ticket, a published update or a resolved case rather than synthetic scores. Microsoft+2Amazon Web Services, Inc.+2

Be candid about reliability, permissions and cost. Some vendors are rebranding old automation as agentic, and long-running sessions can be expensive if left unmanaged. Treat evaluations like you would a new teammate. Start with real tasks, review logs, set clear approval points, then expand scope only when the data supports it. As adoption grows, focus on shared agent services, not one-offs, so improvements benefit many teams at once. Venturebeat

What comes next

Two trends are forming the next phase. First, marketplaces for agents are landing in core productivity suites and browsers, which makes discovery and adoption easier. Second, standardized payments are arriving. Google announced the Agent Payments Protocol, an open standard for agent-initiated purchases across platforms. OpenAI’s Instant Checkout and its open commerce protocol walkthrough point to the same destination where agents can transact with clear authorization and a record of what happened. As the company grows and AI becomes a more integrated part of operations, these pieces will let you move from a few helpful agents to a governed network of digital coworkers. Reuters+3Microsoft+3

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