Agency AI positions itself as a vector for economic transformation in Southeast Asia. This technology, capable of deciding and acting autonomously, constitutes a major advancement. A promise of substantial economic gains. Research indicates a potential of $450 billion by 2028. However, doubts remain about its effective implementation. Trust is eroding, and companies struggle to adopt these innovations. Significant implications are on the horizon, not only regarding the faces of organizations but also concerning required skills and work structures. The crucial issue lies in balancing autonomy and human supervision. What strategies will emerge to navigate through these dizzying transformations?
Debates around agency AI are multiplying, provoking both enthusiasm and skepticism within companies. The Capgemini Research Institute estimates that this technology could generate up to $450 billion in economic value by 2028. Yet, the adoption of these solutions remains limited, with only 2% of organizations having scaled them.
Trust and Oversight
The Capgemini report emphasizes the importance of trust and oversight to maximize the value derived from agency AI. About three-quarters of executives believe that human involvement in AI workflows outweighs the associated costs. Nine out of ten executives consider oversight to be beneficial or even neutral from a financial standpoint. AI agents prove to be more effective when combined with humans rather than left on autopilot.
Slow Adoption and Barriers
Nearly a quarter of companies have launched agency AI pilot projects, but only 14% have progressed to true implementation. The majority of organizations remain in the planning phase. This observation reveals a growing chasm between intention and preparedness, acting as a significant barrier to the economic realization of advanced technologies.
Tangible Applications
Concrete solutions are beginning to emerge, particularly with personal assistants capable of searching for products, generating descriptions, answering questions, and adding items to a cart via voice or text commands. These innovations raise questions about the necessity of traditional websites. If AI can perform search and purchasing tasks, will users still need to navigate online sites? An AI-powered interface could provide a more accessible and simplified option.
Understanding Agency AI
Jason Hardy, Chief Technology Officer of AI at Hitachi Vantara, clarifies that agency AI refers to software capable of deciding, acting, and adjusting its strategy autonomously. This technology combines domain expertise, learning from experience, and real-time task coordination. The main difference from generative AI lies in the ability to produce outcomes and generate actions in dynamic environments.
Acceleration of Adoption
Hardy identifies increasing volume and complexity as drivers of adoption. Companies are overwhelmed by these challenges, and agency AI becomes attractive due to its capacity to analyze, optimize, and automate in real time. The ability to anticipate failures and respond to security threats fuels the acceleration of this adoption.
Promising Application Areas
IT operations represent the primary application area so far. Automated data analysis, proactive resource optimization, and compliance reporting save considerable time for teams. The capabilities of agency AI also promote proactive problem detection, efficient resource allocation, and rapid responses to security incidents.
Challenges for Southeast Asia
For organizations in Southeast Asia, the priority lies in data ownership. Agency AI generates value only when enterprise data is properly classified, secured, and governed. Infrastructure also plays a crucial role, requiring systems suited for multi-agent orchestration and dynamic resource allocation.
Transforming Workflows
Hardy anticipates a redefinition of workflows in the fields of IT, supply chain, and customer service. In the IT sector, agency AI can forecast resource needs, rebalance workloads, and reallocate resources in real time. Cybersecurity, on the other hand, represents a crucial future sector, with the ability to detect anomalies and quickly isolate affected systems.
New Skills and Leadership
Adopting agency AI will require the acquisition of new skills. The human role will evolve towards effective supervision and orchestration of autonomous systems. Leaders will need to establish ethical and organizational boundaries, monitoring systems to ensure their alignment with corporate values.
Impact on the Workforce
The consequences for employment will be uneven. According to the World Economic Forum, AI could generate 11 million jobs in Southeast Asia by 2030, while displacing 9 million. Women and Generation Z will experience the most significant disruptions, with a majority occupying positions vulnerable to AI. It is essential to take retraining and awareness measures in this context.
Upcoming Changes
In the coming years, Hardy anticipates a pace of change underestimated by leaders. Early positive outcomes are already visible in IT operations, while broader implications affect economic structure and business models. Projections indicate that AI and generative AI could add approximately $120 billion to the GDP of the ASEAN-6 by 2027.
Balancing Autonomy and Supervision
Capgemini’s findings and Hardy’s perspectives highlight the same observation: agency AI harbors immense potential. Its development rests on a delicate balance between autonomy and trust, accompanied by effective human oversight. For companies in the region, the crucial question is not whether agency AI will establish itself but rather at what speed and under what conditions.
FAQ on Agency AI: Promises, Doubts, and Implications for Southeast Asia
What is agency AI and how does it differ from traditional AI?
Agency AI is a type of software that can decide, act, and refine its strategy autonomously, while traditional AI is often reactive to user inputs. Agency AI operates like a team of domain experts, learning from experience and coordinating tasks in real time.
What are the main advantages of adopting agency AI for businesses in Southeast Asia?
Adopting agency AI allows for optimizing operations, improving risk management, and automating essential tasks. This leads to significant time savings, reduces errors, and generally enhances security.
What are the primary obstacles to adopting agency AI in organizations in Southeast Asia?
Major obstacles include distrust of AI agents, lack of adequate infrastructure, and a growing gap between the intention to adopt and the ability to deploy this technology effectively.
How can agency AI transform IT operations management?
Agency AI can anticipate capacity needs, optimize storage operations, and manage compliance in real time, allowing for resource savings and reducing downtime.
What impact could agency AI have on employment in Southeast Asia?
It is expected that agency AI could create several million jobs while displacing others, requiring significant reskilling of the workforce, particularly among women and youth, who are most exposed to disruptions.
How can businesses prepare for the integration of agency AI?
Companies should focus on classifying, securing, and governing data, while ensuring they have infrastructure capable of supporting multi-agent orchestration and dynamic resource allocation.
What are the concrete applications of agency AI in the cybersecurity sector?
Agency AI can quickly detect anomalies, isolate affected systems, and trigger immutable backups, thereby reducing response time and mitigating potential damages.
How could the adoption of agency AI influence business models?
By integrating agency AI, businesses could enhance their operational efficiency, open new revenue streams, and adapt their business models based on the predictive capabilities of the technology.
What roles should business leaders play in the implementation of agency AI?
Leaders must establish boundaries for the operation of autonomous systems, oversee their ethics and compliance while focusing on strategic tasks rather than administrative ones.
