When Upstream Security’s CEO Yoav Levy dropped an AI agent into his marketing team’s Slack, the chat went silent for a day before a single “Hey!” sparked a flurry of interaction. The episode illustrates the nervousness employees feel toward software that can plan and execute tasks autonomously, a capability researchers label agentic AI. Early adopters are still mapping the cultural shift required.

KPMG’s Global AI Pulse finds only 9 % of firms run active agents, while a fifth are merely scouting the technology and 17 % run pilots. Adecco Group, with 35,000 staff, aims to generate half its revenue from agents by year‑end, having cut recruitment cycle time by 20 % and uncovered a hidden 50 % candidate pool that contacts the bot after hours. Cost remains a hurdle, as most platforms bill by “tokens,” prompting some firms to secure unlimited contracts to curb expenses.

Prosus, which has built roughly 50,000 agents, encourages non‑technical staff to create bots through the low‑code Toqan platform. Euro Beinat claims the rollout has delivered efficiency equivalent to more than 1,000 full‑time employees, freeing legal and account teams to generate their own analytics. The surge in autonomous workflows forces companies to rethink staffing structures, proving that agentic AI is no longer a curiosity but a productivity engine.