Man working in a high-tech lab. Photo/Gorodenkoff via Adobe Stock

What is agentic AI?

Think of today’s AI, but remove the need for most human prompts

By Stephen Kenney Email Stephen

5 minute read June 13, 2025

Imagine a world where artificial intelligence, or AI, completes tasks autonomously by planning, reasoning and taking specific actions.

According to today’s leading innovators, that future isn’t too far away; it’s becoming a reality through agentic AI.

As the University of Cincinnati’s corporate crossroads and startup launchpad, the team at UC's 1819 Innovation Hub keenly follows developments in agentic AI. Building partner Microsoft recently led a discussion on AI agents from the heart of the Cincinnati Innovation District.

Here are the takeaways.

Agentic AI definition

According to Microsoft, agentic AI is “an autonomous AI system that plans, reasons and acts to complete tasks with minimal human oversight.” Current AI forms — think ChatGPT and DeepSeek — typically require human prompting to complete assignments. Agentic AI flips that on its head.

Top 5 agentic AI characteristics

Five key pieces of agentic AI were identified during Microsoft’s event at the 1819 Innovation Hub. Below, we’ll expand upon each:

Autonomy: Agentic AI can perform tasks beyond exactly what’s assigned, requiring significantly less human oversight.
Reasoning: Through contextual clues and sophisticated forms of decision-making, AI agents select potential solutions on their own.
Adaptable planning: When conditions shift, agentic AI can alter its plans accordingly.
Context understanding: AI agents can comprehend human speech with ease.
Action enabled: Agentic AI delivers tangible solutions by acting whenever it deems itself capable of doing so.

Agentic AI vs. generative AI

Common large language model (LLM) tools like ChatGPT, Claude and Perplexity use generative AI. Photo/Vertigo3D

Generative AI is the form of artificial intelligence you’re most likely familiar with. You may use it to ask for recipe recommendations, to craft work emails or to detect errors in computer code. The common theme with generative AI is that you give the tool a prompt, and it’ll provide an output.

That’s where the two forms of AI diverge. While generative AI tools such as OpenAI’s ChatGPT, Anthropic’s Claude and Canva’s Magic Studio produce results based on exact prompts, agentic AI completes tasks based on context clues.

Agentic AI examples

So, how could AI agents be incorporated into both the workplace and our daily lives? Here are some realistic use cases:

Travel booking: Let’s say you’re interested in going on vacation and have a set budget and trip preferences. Tell an AI agent about your interests and limitations, and it could suggest destinations, hotel and flight choices and stops on your itinerary. It could even book the trip for you, autonomously doing the work that you would’ve had to perform otherwise.
Customer support: While AI has already been incorporated into this field, it’ll become more helpful. Expect AI-powered customer support to diagnose issues independently, provide tailored solutions, craft tickets and escalate issues to humans when necessary.
Data analytics and reporting: Rather than humans needing to read through huge datasets to produce reports, AI agents will be able to independently collect insights and compile them into presentations and graphics.
Supply chain management: Agentic AI will be able to continuously monitor the market for supply chain disruptions, optimize inventory levels and logistics and predict when equipment will either give out or need maintenance.

Companies throughout the Cincinnati innovation ecosystem are using the top AI tools for business to boost efficiency – with AI agents, processes will become even quicker and smarter.

Real-world applications of agentic AI

While agentic AI comes with many pros, its benefits will vary across different fields. Below are five work situations when Microsoft predicts AI agents could help:

Agentic AI applications
When could agentic AI help?	How will it do so?	Real-world examples
1. Automating tasks	Performing complex or repetitive assignments	Predictive maintenance
2. Enhancing human capabilities	Providing independent, data-driven guidance for big decisions	Trading stocks efficiently
3. Creating engaging experiences	Unlocking personalized and interactive user experiences	Video games that adapt based on user preferences
4. Exploring new solutions	Optimizing strategies, solving difficult problems and generating new designs	Resolving healthcare issues
5. Improving social or environmental outcomes	Discovering breakthroughs through scalability and efficiency	Advancing education and sustainability initiatives

AI agents: the way of the future

As time goes on, breakthroughs in AI and quantum computing will radically transform the way we work. The use cases mentioned above are just a few examples of agentic AI, but more will appear as the technology advances and both businesses and customers grow more accustomed to it.

UC's 1819 Innovation Hub is home to firms and startups researching and using AI. Photo/Brad Feinknopf

Cincinnati’s tech community is making waves in AI and challenging innovation on the coasts, as seen below:

1819 partners Microsoft and Tembo are envisioning and developing the future of AI
Startups Innovation Acceleration and Airtrek Robotics use AI to reimagine systematic inventive thinking and airport safety
Events like MidwestCon and Cincy Cyber Week bring industry leaders to Cincinnati – and UC’s 1819 Innovation Hub in particular – in search of tech breakthroughs

At the University of Cincinnati, we know that agentic AI is here to stay and recommend using it to grow your career in an AI-driven world. Don’t get complacent, though – change comes fast in this rapidly growing field, and it’s your responsibility to stay on top of up-and-coming innovation trends.

Featured image at top: Man working in a high-tech lab. Photo/Gorodenkoff via Adobe Stock

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