Tech Giants Bet Billions on AI Agents That May Reshape Commerce as We Know It

Artificial intelligence (AI) agents are emerging as a potentially transformative force in global commerce, with major tech players betting billions on their ability to revolutionize business processes.

Accenture and Nvidia announced an expanded partnership Tuesday to accelerate enterprise AI adoption, including agents. The move comes as Accenture reported $3 billion in generative AI-related bookings in its recent fiscal year.

AI agents are sophisticated software programs designed to perform tasks or services autonomously for users or other programs. These agents can analyze data, make decisions and execute actions within specified parameters, often learning and adapting over time. In commerce, AI agents could handle everything from customer service inquiries to complex supply chain optimizations, promising increased efficiency and reduced human workload.

“AI agents are not just a supporting function of an enterprise’s AI capabilities,” Sunil Rao, CEO and co-founder of AI company Tribble, told PYMNTS. “It’s a technology that can become an organization’s digital assistant and proactive collaborator.”

Voices of Optimism and Caution

Industry veterans offer a range of perspectives on AI agents’ transformative potential. Some highlight the technology’s ability to handle complex tasks and improve efficiency across various business functions.

Daz Williams, chief AI officer at InFlux Technologies, told PYMNTS a good example of the technology is Amazon’s use of AI for inventory management, which reportedly reduced errors by 15% and increased efficiency by 25%. Williams pointed to a McKinsey study predicting that by 2025, AI will power up to 95% of customer interactions.

Other voices in the industry stress the importance of responsible development and deployment. Babak Hodjat, CTO of AI at Cognizant, outlined a process for ensuring responsible AI behavior, including clearly defined agent responsibilities and human oversight mechanisms.

“If system users can’t put faith in the answers that AI delivers, they’ll likely stop using it,” Hodjat told PYMNTS. His comments highlight the critical role of trust in the adoption of AI technologies, particularly in sensitive areas like financial services and healthcare.

Hodjat’s approach includes pairing each AI agent with a moderator or safeguard agent to check for ethical or governance issues, as well as implementing a “Disengage Button” for human overseers to stop autonomous operations in case of emergencies or malfunctions.

Holistic Approach to AI Integration

Some experts advocate for a more comprehensive view of AI technology in business. Raju Malhotra, chief product and technology officer at Certinia, emphasized the importance of seeing AI as “a complete stack made up of infrastructure, platform, and application layers.”

Malhotra told PYMNTS that partnering with established platform providers often offers advantages in scalability and security for most organizations. “The real opportunity isn’t in mastering AI platforms but in creatively applying AI to solve business-specific challenges,” he said.

These examples suggest that AI agents are already making significant inroads in certain business functions, particularly in areas involving large-scale data processing and repetitive tasks.

Not all industry veterans share unbridled enthusiasm for AI agents. Phil Libin, co-founder and CEO at mmhmm and All Turtles and former CEO of Evernote, cautioned against overhyping the technology’s current capabilities.

“I don’t actually think there are many real use cases yet. They are a particular type of marketing fantasy for now,” Libin told PYMNTS. He acknowledged some potential for AI in routine task automation but warned against applications meant to “prevent thinking,” which he believes are “very unlikely to work sustainably for anyone.”

We will likely see continued experimentation and refinement of AI agent applications in commerce in the coming years. Successes and challenges will shape the development of this transformative technology, potentially redefining how businesses operate and interact with customers.

“Given the relative nascency of AI agents, partnering with established platform providers is often the more pragmatic choice for most organizations,” Malhotra said. “While this approach does come with the risk of being tied to a specific platform, the advantages — including scalability, security, and faster deployment — typically outweigh the risks. The real opportunity isn’t in mastering AI platforms but in creatively applying AI to solve business-specific challenges.”