In this engaging episode, Allan Tate moderates a lively discussion with Irving Wladawsky-Berger and Michael Grandinetti, exploring the transformative potential of Agentic AI. Michael Grandinetti, fresh from both MIT’s NANDA (Network of Agents and Decentralized AI Conference and the Imaginaton in Action AI Conference , distinguishes Agentic AI from generative AI, highlighting its autonomy, persistent memory, and ability to execute complex workflows with minimal human input. He shares real-world examples, such as Klarna’s customer support automation and John Hancock’s 40 production use cases, illustrating Agentic AI’s early enterprise impact. Irving Wladawsky-Berger frames Agentic AI as the “action phase” of AI, emphasizing its role in building sophisticated applications through human-agent collaboration, likening it to assembling teams of specialized “servlets” for tasks like travel planning. The trio debates the technology’s maturity, with Irving advocating for cautious, incremental adoption in low-stakes workflows, while Michael predicts rapid scaling, citing AI native startups in the Link Ventures venture studio generating millions of code lines dailymand a “livig lab:” where an ever increasing number of startups are reaching $100M in ARR (annual recurring) at unprecedented speed with hyper-lean teams. They address challenges like testing, transparency, and cultural change management, underscoring the need for human oversight and robust engineering. The conversation also touches on preparing future leaders for an AI-driven world, with Michael noting curriculum shifts at Harvard and Wharton. This episode offers a balanced, insightful look at Agentic AI’s promise and pitfalls for CIOs and enterprises.

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