This week marked a major step forward in how AI agents collaborate with each other. AI agents are smart computer programs that can think, plan, and take action without constant human guidance. The big news is that these agents are now working together in teams, just like people do.

The most important announcement came from PwC, one of the world's largest business consulting companies. They revealed they have created more than 120 AI agents that work together using Google Cloud technology. These agents are not just simple chatbots. They can handle complex business tasks across 24 different types of work processes. What makes this special is that the agents use something called Agent2Agent protocol, which lets them communicate and share tasks with each other.

These AI agent teams are already helping real companies. In retail stores, agents work together to spot unusual sales patterns and find problems with worker behavior. In hospitals, AI agents help doctors by automatically writing patient notes and reviewing medical contracts. In finance companies, the agents team up to check compliance rules and answer audit questions. PwC says their clients are seeing work get done eight times faster with over 30% cost savings.

Scientists at Stanford University in the United States achieved something that sounds like science fiction. They created AI agents that can do scientific research completely on their own. The AI team included different types of agents: some acted like lead scientists, others were specialist researchers, and some were critics who checked the work. These AI scientists held virtual meetings, debated different approaches, and came up with new ideas for COVID-19 treatments.

What's remarkable is that over 90% of their proposed medicines actually worked when tested in real lab experiments. The AI agents only needed 1% input from human researchers. Two of their discoveries showed strong potential as actual treatments. This breakthrough could change how we discover new medicines, making it much faster and cheaper.

However, with AI agents working together comes new security challenges. Okta, a company that specializes in digital security, held a special online summit about securing collaborative AI agents. They explained that when AI agents share information and access different business systems, it creates hidden security risks that are hard to control.

Okta is developing something called the Cross App Access protocol to solve this problem. This new system acts like a security guard that watches all the conversations between AI agents and business apps. It makes sure agents only access what they're supposed to and keeps a record of everything they do. Charlotte Wylie from Okta explained that security teams need to trust AI agents, but right now many can't because they don't have enough control over what the agents do.

Google Cloud announced a major partnership with Atlassian, the Australian-American company behind popular work tools like Jira and Confluence. This partnership will help AI agents integrate better with the software that millions of workers use every day. The collaboration will use Google's Gemini AI models and Vertex AI platform to create smarter agents that can understand what workers need and help them more effectively.

Experts are calling 2025 the year of agentic automation. Unlike simple automation tools, today's AI agents can adapt to new situations and make decisions. When multiple agents work together, they create something called Agentic Process Automation, where the whole system becomes smarter than any single agent.

The business world is taking notice. Companies like CelHive are building platforms specifically designed for human-AI collaboration. These systems let people and AI agents work together in real-time, editing documents and solving problems as partners.

The global market for collaborative AI agents is growing incredibly fast. Industry analysts predict the agentic AI market will grow from $5.25 billion in 2024 to nearly $200 billion by 2034. This represents a growth rate of over 43% per year.

Regulators are also paying attention. In the United Kingdom, government officials are updating their AI guidance to address increasingly autonomous agents. They recognize that when AI agents work together, new rules may be needed to keep them safe and beneficial.

Looking ahead, the trend toward multi-agent collaboration appears unstoppable. Companies are realizing that teams of specialized AI agents can accomplish far more than any single AI system. As these agent ecosystems become more common, the focus is shifting toward making sure they work safely and transparently with human oversight.