Tech leaders are rushing to deploy agentic AI, study shows

Tech executives are moving swiftly to embrace AI agents, according to the latest Technology Pulse Poll from accounting firm Ernst & Young (EY).

The poll, which surveyed more than 500 tech leaders in April, found about half (48%) of respondents have at least begun deploying agentic AI within their organizations. Slightly more (around 50%) said most of their companies’ internal AI operations will be fully autonomous within the next two years, further indicating a movement toward agentic systems.

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Most tech leaders surveyed (58%) also said their organizations were ahead of the competition on AI adoption. This result should be taken with a hearty grain of salt, however, as there’s an obvious incentive to espouse such claims publicly, even in the absence of hard evidence: “this is more perception than reality,” EY Americas Technology Sector Growth Leader Ken Englund said in a statement, “since these companies tend to have a higher opinion of their progress than is statistically possible.”

Despite much-publicized fears about AI-fueled layoffs, the report found the vast majority of tech leaders (84%) are planning on hiring more workers over the next six months as they adopt new AI tools. At the same time, well over half of all respondents said they’re focusing on upskilling their current workforce to keep up with the AI boom.

While adoption rates are high, so too are concerns over digital security: 49% of tech leaders surveyed by EY said their top AI-related concern was data privacy and security, marking a substantial increase compared to last year.

The news arrives during a shaky global economic climate, when many AI developers have been prioritizing systems that can yield benefits for enterprise customers and, at the same time, deliver tangible returns for investors. Many have turned to AI agents, which are widely regarded as a more capable, dynamic, and commercializable form of chatbot. 

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Meanwhile, businesses are looking for ways to implement AI into their workflows. Following the release and success of ChatGPT in late 2022, many were quick to embrace generative AI strictly for the “Wow” factor, not unlike the widespread (and short-lived) rush into metaverse, crypto, and NFTs when those technologies were being enthusiastically hyped up the previous year. 

Now that the initial wave of hype surrounding AI has largely passed, however, many companies have been working to integrate AI into back-end systems, ever cognizant of the fact that — as has been widely claimed across industries — those who adopt this technology now will be more likely to retain a competitive edge in the future. Here, as EY’s new poll suggests, many of those companies believe they’ve found a solution in agents. 

“Against an uncertain macroeconomic and trade environment, executives are still overwhelmingly positive on the business value that agentic AI can deliver,” said EY Global and Americas Technology Sector Leader James Brundage. 

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“That said, despite the optimism they’re feeling, there’s still tremendous pressure for these technology leaders to demonstrate return on investment now through measurement and tangible top-line and bottom-line results.”