Technological innovation waits for no one. Just when we’ve caught up to the latest development, another breakthrough emerges. Artificial Intelligence (AI) is the perfect example - especially as it continues to integrate into the workplace and business settings.
In our previous blog posts, we’ve already seen how Generative AI, like ChatGPT or Gemini, reshape how professionals write, brainstorm, and prepare for interviews. But now, a new form of intelligence is taking shape: Agentic AI - and its implications for business are even more profound.
What Is Agentic AI?
While Generative AI creates new content by learning from large datasets, McKinsey defines Agentic AI as “an autonomous artificial intelligence system that can make its own decisions, plan multi-step tasks, and act on them to achieve a goal with minimal human oversight.”
No pulling from datasets or previously entered responses - this Agentic AI will be creating content and performing partially (soon, completely) independent of human intervention - performing tasks, making decisions, and learning dynamically. In other words, this AI doesn’t just assist - it acts. While the idea of AI running on its own might feel a little unsettling, the bigger question is: how will this impact business operations, decision-making, efficiency, and customer interactions?
The Business Transformation Ahead
McKinsey predicts that Agentic AI will reshape consumer and enterprise markets alike. In retail, for instance, it could “anticipate consumer needs, navigate shopping options, negotiate deals, and execute transactions” - all without human involvement.
The technology will touch nearly every part of business, built around what McKinsey calls the five pillars of the enterprise:
Meanwhile, BCG envisions Agentic AI driving automation in workflow orchestration, customer service, sales and marketing, and finance and risk monitoring. Practically speaking, that means nearly every aspect of business operations could soon include some aspect of a technology that can run independently of human intervention.
What Agentic AI Could Look Like in Action
To make it real, BCG provides examples of how this technology might function:
That raises important ethical questions:
Should companies disclose when an AI - not a human - handles a customer’s claim or communication? Or does the AI become, in a sense, part of the company itself - a digital “employee”?
The Ethical and Operational Questions Ahead
While the efficiency gains are clear, the shift brings new responsibilities. Governance, oversight, and ethical use become even more critical as AI systems gain autonomy. BCG warns that organizations must pay close attention to:
For now, Agentic AI appears most effective when integrated into ERP and CRM platforms, where it can proactively diagnose and resolve issues before humans even notice them. But this is just the beginning - the very early stages of a much larger transformation.
Will Agentic AI Replace Human Jobs?
McKinsey predicts that work will increasingly be “reimagined as AI-first.” Humans may transition from doing tasks to directing information flows - acting as supervisors or strategists rather than executors.
This eventual replacement of humans with AI seems inevitable, as McKinsey sees Agentic organizations embedding their own AI agents inside the programs to challenge outputs, enforce policies, and monitor regulations. This evolution raises valid concerns, especially among younger generations worried about job security. The idea of AI policing itself is one not even the brightest and most future-thinking mind could have imagined 20 years ago. Also, one that begs several ethical questions that continue to go unanswered.
The Bottom Line: Promise and Paradox
Businesses that implement Agentic AI will likely see major gains in efficiency, customer service, and anomaly detection. Yet, as with every technological leap, the benefits come with tradeoffs - particularly around ethics, oversight, and the human role in work.
Agentic AI represents something entirely new - an artificial intelligence capable of acting independently, without human input. Whether this marks the dawn of a more efficient era or something more unsettling remains to be seen.
So maybe… Terminator isn’t as far-fetched as we thought.