AI agents: from science fiction to reality
Artificial intelligence (AI) is constantly evolving – exceeding users’ expectations and revolutionising the way we do business. There’s a new wave of innovation hitting the business world. Described as the new frontier of AI[1], AI agents integrate existing software and are slated to be a major trend in 2025. What makes them innovative? The fact that they act proactively and autonomously to achieve a particular goal. AI is spreading beyond data centres and including the entire economy.
Meeting a purpose
While chatbots are designed to act as personal assistants, AI agents, on the other hand, are opening up a whole new chapter. These agentic systems are designed to imitate human actions. Inspired by the way our brains work, they understand, analyse, segment and carry out tasks independently – all while adapting to the people they are talking to. These self-reflecting agents make rapid and continuous progress by memorising what they learn, which in turn develops their reasoning processes. What’s more, these systems are easy for companies to set up.
Trained to interact with an environment, they are free to determine and select the best actions to take in order to achieve their goals. Sales, manufacturing, industry, tourism – these agents are relevant to all sectors. For example, their use can make the difference in the retail sector, particularly when it comes to stock management, with the agents able to optimise actions, use algorithms to anticipate future orders and interact with suppliers and customers.
A growing market
The AI agents market could grow to $110 billion by 2028[2]. One of the key elements of this new wave is productivity gains. AI agents, which some people describe as “autonomous employees”, are making a name for themselves by automating repetitive tasks, removing the need for human intervention and leaving employees free to concentrate on value-added tasks instead.
The software market and application providers such as Microsoft and Servicenow were the first sectors to adopt these agents. The American software publisher Salesforce is also following in their footsteps. The launch of version 2.0 of its autonomous application Agentforce, which is designed to provide ongoing specialist assistance to staff and customers alike, positions it, in our view, as a pioneer of agentic systems.
While we are still in the early stages of this new wave of AI monetisation, the adoption of these systems by the whole economy and all sizes of business marks a decisive turning point. This represents a major transformation for the entire digital sector. We are convinced of the investment potential of AI agents – the next frontier in artificial intelligence.
Christophe Pouchoy, Fund Manager for Echiquier Artificial Intelligence, La Financière de l’Echiquier │January 2025
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[1] McKinsey, Why agents are the next frontier of generative AI, 2024
[2] Impact Series report – AI revolution: meeting massive AI infrastructure demands