2026 will be the year agent armies awaken
Waters Wrap: Several AI experts have recently said that the next 12 months will see significant progress for agentic AI. Are capital markets firms ready for this shift from generative AI to agents?
At a conference last March, Symon Garfield, Microsoft’s director of capital markets and digital strategy, had this to say: “Generative AI is completely passé. It’s two years old now; everybody’s doing it. This is the year of agentic AI.”
While the word passé—adjective: past one’s prime; behind the times—might be a bit hyperbolic, agentic AI certainly did grab the headlines in 2025. For proof, Ethan Mollick, the famed AI researcher, author, and professor at the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton
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