Why 2026 (not the prophesied 2025) is the true year of agentic AI 

The tech sector lauded 2025 as the year of agentic AI. But as ever, these predictions usually gain real traction at least a year after they are made. 

What we’re seeing this year is tech companies introducing the initial models and foundations for agentic AI’s greater future use. OpenAI, for instance, has just launched its Instant Checkout feature to ChatGPT models in the US, which allows users to make purchases directly in the chat from Etsy sellers – over a million Shopify merchants will soon follow.

This emergence of agentic AI is already triggering some companies to quickly adapt. Accenture has just announced it’s training its global 700,000-strong workforce in agentic AI systems due to rising client expectations for expertise in the area. 

These are groundbreaking shifts in the tech scene. And they’re teeing up agentic AI’s real impact in 2026. Therefore, for B2B tech leaders, there is a need to understand how it can remodel their processes – and for agentic AI innovators and scaleups, how to hone their messaging. 

Defining agentic AI 

The last blog I wrote on the topic discussed how broad definitions for agentic AI can lead to vagueness around what AI agents do – something that’s crucial for B2B brands to clarify. So much has been happening in the AI space at such a quick pace that companies can be unsure over what AI tools will give them the most value. So, the better businesses can understand agentic AI, the better placed they are to adopt it. 

ChatGPT defines its younger sibling as “a helpful assistant” that can “take autonomous actions toward achieving goals, rather than just responding passively to inputs”. The clue’s in the name: these models have agency to take the initiative and act with a degree of autonomy. 

If we dig a bit deeper, there are distinctions between generative AI and agentic AI, for instance, even though they’re also interlinked. Generative AI centres on content creation in response to prompts and does this through large language models (LLMs). Agentic AI is a subset of generative AI and goes beyond content creation, with AI agents using LLMs to execute tasks. Google elaborates nicely on these distinctions. 

There’s also a subtle difference between AI agents and agentic AI. Just like a hive of bees, AI agents are the individual worker bees executing actions while agentic AI is the coordinated use of all the bees to build and maintain the hive – and the queen bee is the LLM. 

Where will it have an impact?

Eventually, agentic AI will be everywhere. But there are areas where it is likely to start to have an impact as soon as next year. 

Customer service is already experimenting with agentic AI. Gartner predicts that by 2029, agentic AI will solve 80% of common customer service issues without human intervention. And more broadly, retail and ecommerce could be one of the first areas where it has a real impact, both for B2B businesses and consumers. 

Our client Peak AI has just announced the launch of its new agentic AI solutions for retailers and manufacturers – and not just announced, but put them into practice with major UK brands. When it comes to retailer strategy, for example, AI agents can automatically optimise inventory and pricing decisions that best balance the ‘margin vs revenue’ trade-off. And Open AI’s new feature is demonstration of how quickly shopping can be performed directly in LLMs by using agentic AI capabilities. 

In the public sector, and particularly areas like healthcare – a system in real need of greater efficiency – AI agents could be used to perform processes like scheduling appointments and dispensing medicine (which is then administered by human clinicians). 

Essentially, a whole stream of capabilities could be possible for many sectors. 

Honing the message 

Tech PR can fall victim to its use of generalised terms and jargon. With agentic AI on the precipice of booming, deciphering how to stand out in this hotly competitive market – and how businesses can benefit from agentic AI – is key. 

AI has helped improve efficiency for businesses in certain areas, but agentic AI is poised to deliver seismic change. The first step to its successful adoption or promotion comes from understanding it.