This week in artificial intelligence brought exciting news about how companies are building and using agentic AI systems—computer programs that can think, reason, and take action all by themselves. These aren't simple programs that just follow commands; they're intelligent systems that can understand what needs to be done and figure out how to do it.

Companies Are Ready to Deploy Agentic AI

Amazon Web Services announced brand new categories of tools and services specifically designed for agentic AI on November 30th. The company is recognizing that organizations are no longer just testing these systems—they're ready to put them into actual business use. According to data from IDC, 23% of organizations expect to fully deploy agentic AI in the next 12 months, with 65% expecting full deployment by 2027. AWS is offering extra support and funding to help partners build these systems, showing how serious companies are about this technology. The announcement also revealed that customers working with AI experts are getting production-ready solutions 25% faster than before.

Humans and AI Make a Powerful Team

One of the most important insights this week came from research showing that humans are still better than AI in important ways. A study from Johns Hopkins University found that humans are much better at interpreting and describing social situations in dynamic scenes. Rather than this being bad news for AI, experts say it shows us the perfect partnership model: AI handles the data-heavy, repetitive work, while humans handle the complex thinking, ethical decisions, and creative problem-solving. Think of it like a sports team—the AI player is excellent at running fast and processing lots of information, but the human player is better at strategy and understanding the opponent's feelings. When these two work together with good communication, they create something better than either could do alone.

Big Changes Coming to Jobs

According to Kyndryl, a major technology company, agentic AI is already changing how people work. Nearly nine out of ten business leaders expect AI to completely transform their employees' jobs in the next year. More than half of leaders have already started experimenting with AI agents in their companies. However, this doesn't necessarily mean people will lose jobs—it means jobs will change. People will work alongside AI agents instead of doing repetitive tasks all day. The organizations that prepare their teams for this change will have a big advantage.

Where Agentic AI Works Best (and Where It Doesn't)

Harvard Business Review shared important information this week: agentic AI works amazingly well for internal business processes but isn't ready yet for directly serving customers. For example, AI agents can handle ordering supplies, scheduling meetings, and organizing information inside a company. But when it comes to customers making purchases, 76% of people said they wouldn't feel comfortable letting an AI make those decisions for them, mostly because of security and privacy worries. Financial institutions are already using agentic AI for internal work, with multiple banks launching AI assistant programs.

Real Examples This Week

Banks in Europe and around the world are implementing agentic AI systems. In the United States, financial technology companies participated in sandbox programs to test these new AI agents under controlled conditions. Microsoft and NVIDIA announced a combined $15 billion investment in Anthropic, a company that makes advanced AI models, showing how serious big technology companies are about developing better AI agents.

Security Concerns Emerge

There's also a serious side to this story. This week, researchers detailed what appears to be the first cyberattack fully conducted by AI agents, from the initial investigation through the final attack. This shows that as AI becomes more autonomous, we need better security measures and oversight to make sure these systems don't cause harm. It's a reminder that while human-AI teams are powerful, we need to make sure humans always stay in control of the most important decisions.