Prompt: Agentic AI Is Outpacing Enterprise Readiness

Kulpreya Chaichatpornsuk via Getty ImagesEditor’s Note: Welcome to Prompt, your weekly briefing on the shifting AI landscape. We provide an analytical look at the week’s biggest developments, paired with a curated roundup of the stories that matter.Enterprises have big plans for AI agents. Whether they're ready for them is another question.A new Deloitte survey found that roughly 75% of U.S. business leaders expect AI agents to reshape about half of their organizations' processes within four years. But just 20% believe their companies are currently equipped to redesign workflows for autonomous agents.That finding lands at an interesting moment. Enterprises are deploying more agents, vendors are making them easier to launch and AI capabilities continue to advance. But the organizational foundations needed to support them are not moving at the same speed.The result is a widening gap between what agentic AI can do and what enterprises are actually prepared to manage.Related:Nvidia’s New Open Model Is for Specific Use CasesEven so, deployment continues to accelerate. Salesforce research found the average number of AI agents across organizations nearly tripled over 15 months. Meanwhile, the time required to create and activate an agent fell 53% to less than two days.Agents are also handling more work, with the average number of actions per account growing at a compound monthly rate of 31% over the 15 months.In other words, enterprises can deploy agents faster than ever. Preparing the organization to use them effectively is proving much more complicated.But the biggest barriers are within the enterprise. Deloitte found many organizations simply aren't ready, with unclear business processes, disconnected data and systems, and resistance to changing established ways of working standing in the way.Those barriers become more consequential as agents take on greater responsibility. Without reliable access to data, agents can struggle to produce trustworthy results. Cost is another concern. Gartner found that agentic AI may not benefit from traditional economies of scale as more complex reasoning and planning hike inference costs.And questions about reliability remain. Just 35% of executives surveyed by HFS Research and TCS said AI consistently delivers business outcomes, earns regulator confidence and provides sufficient control.Taken together, the developments point to a growing disconnect. Organizations are deploying more agents and asking them to do more, while the processes, data, economics and controls needed to support them are still catching up.Agentic AI may be arriving quickly. Enterprise readiness is proving much harder to accelerate.Related:Meta Reverses Course with Open-Weight Muse GlimmerAlso in AI News This Week:OpenAI's Model Slowdown Offers CIOs a Lesson in AI Planning: The AI lab’s decision to slow development of its most advanced models highlights why CIOs need flexible AI roadmaps that can adapt as model capabilities, availability and vendor timelines change.Micron Puts $10B Behind US AI Memory Research: The chipmaker is investing $10 billion in a new Idaho research hub focused on advancing memory, compute and packaging technologies for increasingly demanding AI systems.Nvidia’s SONIC Teaches Humanoids to Move: The foundation model enables humanoid robots to learn a wide range of whole-body movements from human demonstrations, advancing the company's broader push into physical AI.Starling Bank Adds AI-Powered Skills to Customer-Facing Chatbot: The bank is expanding its customer-facing AI assistant with new skills designed to handle more complex banking queries and provide more personalized support.AI Productivity Gains Aren’t Translating to IT Workload Relief: AI is saving IT professionals hours each week, but most say their workloads have stayed the same or increased as new responsibilities offset those productivity gains.AI-Backed Campaign Targeting Vulnerable Siemens S7 Devices, CISA and FBI Warn: The agencies are warning that hackers are using AI-assisted techniques to target vulnerable Siemens industrial control systems across critical infrastructure sectors, including energy and water.Related:Microsoft Framework to Cut AI Agent Training CostsPony.AI Has Plans for 4,000 Robotaxis Outside China: The Chinese vendor plans to deploy 4,000 robotaxis globally as it accelerates the expansion of its autonomous driving business.How Enterprises Can Catch Up with the Rapid Pace of AI Advances: Enterprises looking to keep pace with rapid AI advances need a clear understanding of their business processes and the flexibility to switch between models and agents as capabilities and costs change.