Companies Can Delegate to AI Agents but Can’t Delegate Accountability

Companies have embraced generative artificial intelligence, examining where software could help employees. The truly agentic enterprise must examine what happens when the software can do the work itself.

An agent can take information from one part of a company, decide what needs to happen next and perform the task, allowing work to move across functions without an employee initiating each step.

“Think about autonomy rather than assistance,” i2c CEO and Founder Amir Wain told PYMNTS CEO Karen Webster.

Wain described agentic AI as a progression from the familiar large language model. An LLM can take a prompt, interpret information and generate a response. An agent uses the model’s capabilities as part of a broader system that can perceive information, decide what to do, and act. Wain added a fourth component: a learning loop that allows the system to improve based on what happens after it acts.

Put enough of those capabilities inside a company and the operating model starts to change. Agents can perform work that once passed among employees, departments and software applications. For businesses created around AI from the outset, that can also change what is required to get a company off the ground.