From Copilots to Colleagues: Agentic AI Gets Down to Business

It’s official: chatbots are out, and AI agents are clocking in. This Computerworld feature dives deep into the rapid rise of agentic AI, a new generation of autonomous systems capable of managing entire workflows, not just responding to prompts. Unlike their chatty predecessors, these agents are executing complex tasks, making decisions, and even collaborating with other agents. Adoption is surging—96% of enterprise leaders plan to expand usage this year, with Gartner forecasting that by 2029, 80% of customer service issues will be resolved without human help.

Software development is leading the charge. Tools like Cursor, Devin, and Windsurf are helping companies offload entire projects—from architecture to infrastructure deployment—to AI platforms. GitHub Copilot, AWS, and even VS Code are embracing agentic modes, with OpenAI soon to launch its own A-SWE. At cybersecurity firm Abnormal AI, 75% of engineers are already working with agentic tools. Thomson Reuters, meanwhile, is combining multi-model agents with flexible vendor strategies to future-proof development across teams.

But it’s not just about writing code. Thomson Reuters also launched CoCounsel, an AI agent used by over 240,000 professionals for legal and tax research. Bosch Power Tools is piloting agentic AI to assist customer support reps, while Route Three Digital helped a client shrink a weeklong proposal process down to hours with Google's Gemini and Vertex AI. The catch? Data hygiene and standardization still matter more than AI hype. As Gartner's Sid Nag puts it, this tech is getting real—but it’s not quite ready to run the company solo. Yet.