University of Kwazulu-Natal

Meet The Ai Agents Of 2026 Ambitious Overhyped And Still In

Bonisiwe Shabane
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meet the ai agents of 2026 ambitious overhyped and still in

For an alternate viewpoint, see “Point: Get Ready, 2026 Is Going to Be Great.” If 2025 was the year artificial intelligence became unavoidable, 2026 will be the year everyone starts talking seriously about AI agents. An AI agent is a software system designed to plan and execute tasks autonomously, make decisions and interact with digital tools or environments with minimal human oversight in pursuit of a defined goal. When people fear that AI will take over jobs, they are usually worried about white-collar automation. The more immediate question is not what AI agents might do someday; it is who is pushing them now, and to what end. Tech companies are aggressively marketing AI agents as autonomous digital workers that can plan tasks, execute goals and manage workflows with minimal human input.

Corporate leaders echo these claims, framing agents as productivity multipliers and cost-saving measures. In many cases, this enthusiasm reflects less a genuine breakthrough in capability than a familiar pattern: vendors racing to define the next category of enterprise software before regulators, workers or consumers have time to... In 2026, AI agents will be everywhere in corporate decks and keynote speeches, but far less impressive in practice. Despite the hype, these systems remain unreliable, brittle and heavily dependent on human supervision. They are not autonomous employees. They are closer to junior staffers who work quickly, confidently and often incorrectly, requiring constant review and cleanup.

The problem is that Big Tech is pushing to deploy these agents at scale, often without adequate training, safeguards or clear human accountability. If 2025 was the year artificial intelligence became unavoidable, 2026 will be the year everyone starts talking seriously about AI agents. An AI agent is a software system designed to plan and execute tasks autonomously, make decisions and interact with digital tools or environments with minimal human oversight in pursuit of a defined goal. When people fear that AI will take over jobs, they are usually worried about white-collar automation. The more immediate question is not what AI agents might do someday; it is who is pushing them now, and to what end. Tech companies are aggressively marketing AI agents as autonomous digital workers that can plan tasks, execute goals and manage workflows with minimal human input.

Corporate leaders echo these claims, framing agents as productivity multipliers and cost-saving measures. In many cases, this enthusiasm reflects less a genuine breakthrough in capability than a familiar pattern: vendors racing to define the next category of enterprise software before regulators, workers or consumers have time to... In 2026, AI agents will be everywhere in corporate decks and keynote speeches, but far less impressive in practice. Despite the hype, these systems remain unreliable, brittle and heavily dependent on human supervision. Agentic AI is having its everything, everywhere, all at once moment. Or is it?

IT practitioners tracking what’s happening on social media, in vendor pronouncements, and throughout the thought leadership sphere where hyperbole runs hot are forgiven for thinking that the world’s businesses are soon to be running... They see proclamations that the age of the agentic workforce is at hand (90% of IT support work executed by agents!) and anecdotes about enterprising programmers generating revenue from agent-based products. Meanwhile, others claim that the industry is being sold a bill of goods and that the reality on the ground does not match the hype. As is often the case in tech, that reality is more nuanced. Even so, data clarifies. While 39% of organizations surveyed by McKinsey say they are experimenting with agents, only 23% have begun scaling AI agents within one business function.

First, let’s take a step back: What exactly are AI agents and why are IT leaders excited about them? If 2025 was the year artificial intelligence became unavoidable, 2026 will be the year everyone starts talking seriously about AI agents. An AI agent is a software system designed to plan and execute tasks autonomously, make decisions and interact with digital tools or environments with minimal human oversight in pursuit of a defined goal. When people fear that AI will take over jobs, they are usually worried about white-collar automation. The more immediate question is not what AI agents might do someday; it is who is pushing them now, and to what end. Tech companies are aggressively marketing AI agents as autonomous digital workers that can plan tasks, execute goals and manage workflows with minimal human input.

Corporate leaders echo these claims, framing agents as productivity multipliers and cost-saving measures. In many cases, this enthusiasm reflects less a genuine breakthrough in capability than a familiar pattern: vendors racing to define the next category of enterprise software before regulators, workers or consumers have time to... In 2025, enterprise AI advanced from simply responding to prompts and generating text to a new phase in which digital agents can take action, not just talk. The rise of “vibe coding” is a trend in which generative AI generates code from plain-language requests. It has made software development easier for many people, but it has also raised concerns about security and reliability. At the same time, businesses must deal with “workslop,” which means low-quality AI output that forces workers to spend hours checking the very tools that are supposed to save them time.

As we move into 2026, the momentum around AI is clear. A new Salesforce study shows that AI adoption among CIOs has increased by 282%, indicating strong interest in the technology. However, many leaders are still cautious about fully embracing an agent-first strategy. The main issue is data trust, which has become the biggest obstacle. Leaders are balancing the risks of allowing autonomous actions with the clear benefits of scaling their operations. The key question now is not whether agents will change how work is done, but how organizations will manage, trust, and work alongside them.

The future of agentic AI: proactive, multi-agent systems If 2025 was the year artificial intelligence became unavoidable, 2026 will be the year everyone starts talking seriously about AI agents. An AI agent is a software system designed to plan and … Stay informed about your community and support local independent journalism. Subscribe to The River Reporter today. click here

This item is available in full to subscribers. In artificial intelligence, 2025 marked a decisive shift. Systems once confined to research labs and prototypes began to appear as everyday tools. At the center of this transition was the rise of AI agents -- AI systems that can use other software tools and act on their own. While researchers have studied AI for more than 60 years, and the term "agent" has long been part of the field's vocabulary, 2025 was the year the concept became concrete for developers and consumers... AI agents moved from theory to infrastructure, reshaping how people interact with large language models, the systems that power chatbots like ChatGPT.

In 2025, the definition of AI agent shifted from the academic framing of systems that perceive, reason and act to AI company Anthropic's description of large language models that are capable of using software... While large language models have long excelled at text-based responses, the recent change is their expanding capacity to act, using tools, calling APIs, coordinating with other systems and completing tasks independently. This shift did not happen overnight. A key inflection point came in late 2024, when Anthropic released the Model Context Protocol. The protocol allowed developers to connect large language models to external tools in a standardized way, effectively giving models the ability to act beyond generating text. With that, the stage was set for 2025 to become the year of AI agents.

Featured Postposted by ODSC Team December 29, 2025 ODSC Team As artificial intelligence continues its rapid evolution, one thing has become increasingly clear: progress isn’t being driven by a single breakthrough, but by a convergence of architectural shifts, cultural changes, and hard-earned lessons from... ODSC AI is built on our community – and that involves our speakers, attendees, and everyone else who contributes and makes us who we are. To wrap up 2025 and kick off 2026, we asked frequent ODSC AI contributors three questions. Here are their answers about the 2026 AI outlook and more. Meet leading experts, upskill with hands-on workshops, and connect with thousands of data science and AI practitioners shaping the next wave of innovation.

Cameron Turner, Founder and CEO of TRUIFY.AI

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