Agentic AI may be moving artificial intelligence (AI) to a new level beyond generative AI, with the same characteristics and challenges — but also with some notable distinctions.
Marc Benioff, CEO of Salesforce, calls agentic AI the “third wave” in the rapid evolution of the field. “In just a few years, we’ve already witnessed three generations of AI,” he observed in a recent piece in the New York Times. “First came predictive models that analyze data. Next came generative AI, driven by deep-learning models like ChatGPT. Now, we are experiencing a third wave — one defined by intelligent agents that can autonomously handle complex tasks.”
Also: I’m an AI tools expert, and these are the only two I pay for
AI agents, or intelligent assistants, are intended to serve as digital co-workers, assistants, or customer service representatives, communicating via natural language processing. They “have the potential to augment human capabilities in ways …