g-f(2)2674 The Dawn of Agentic Systems: The Next Leap in Generative AI

 

genioux Fact post by Fernando Machuca and Copilot

Introduction by Fernando and Copilot

Welcome to another enlightening journey in the g-f New World. Today, we’re thrilled to present you with our latest genioux Fact post, “g-f(2)2674 The Dawn of Agentic Systems: The Next Leap in Generative AI.”

This post, g-f(2)2674, is not just another addition to our collection of genioux facts, but a crucial piece of the puzzle in winning the g-f Transformation Game (g-f TG). Each genioux fact, including g-f(2)2674, is a stepping stone towards understanding and mastering the dynamics of the g-f New World. They are the keys to unlocking the treasure trove of knowledge and insights that will guide you in your transformation journey.

In this post, we delve into the exciting frontier of generative AI, exploring the transition from knowledge-based tools to gen AI–enabled “agents” that execute complex, multistep workflows across a digital world. These agents represent the next leap in AI, moving from thought to action, and opening up new possibilities for automation, efficiency, and collaboration.

Join us as we uncover the golden knowledge embedded in this evolution of generative AI and learn how to apply these insights in our own lives. Let’s embark on this exciting expedition together, and remember, every genioux fact brings us one step closer to winning the g-f TG in the g-f New World.

Best, Fernando and Copilot

Introduction: 

In the ever-evolving landscape of artificial intelligence, a new frontier is emerging, as highlighted in the McKinsey Quarterly’s article “Why agents are the next frontier of generative AI.” This article delves into the transition of generative AI from knowledge-based tools to gen AI–enabled “agents” that execute complex, multistep workflows across a digital world.

genioux GK Nugget: 

"Generative AI is evolving from thought to action, with AI-enabled agents using foundation models to independently interact and execute complex tasks in a dynamic digital world." — Fernando Machuca and Copilot, July 27, 2024

genioux Foundational Fact: 

The article discusses the concept of “agentic” systems, digital systems that can independently interact in a dynamic world. These systems, powered by generative AI, can plan their actions, use online tools to complete tasks, collaborate with other agents and people, and learn to improve their performance. They have the potential to act as skilled virtual coworkers, working seamlessly with humans. The technology is moving from being knowledge-based to becoming more action-based, marking a significant shift in the capabilities of AI.

Conclusion: 

The evolution of generative AI into agentic systems marks a significant milestone in the field of artificial intelligence. As these AI-enabled agents become more sophisticated, they hold the potential to revolutionize how we interact with the digital world, opening up new possibilities for automation, efficiency, and collaboration. As we continue to explore this new frontier, it’s clear that the future of AI is not just about thinking—it’s about doing.

REFERENCES

The g-f GK Context

Lareina Yee, Michael Chui, and Roger Roberts with Stephen Xu, Why agents are the next frontier of generative AI, McKinsey, McKinsey Quarterly, July 24, 2024. 

ABOUT THE AUTHORS

Lareina Yee is a senior partner in McKinsey’s Bay Area office, where Michael Chui and Roger Roberts are partners; Stephen Xu is senior director of project management in the Toronto office.

The authors wish to thank Aneri Shah, Arun Mittal, Henry Zhang, Kimberly Te, Mara Pometti, and Rickard Ström for their contributions to this article.

Classical Summary of the Article:

The article "Why agents are the next frontier of generative AI" from McKinsey Quarterly discusses the evolution of generative AI (gen AI) from knowledge-based tools to gen AI–enabled “agents”¹. These agents use foundation models to execute complex, multistep workflows across a digital world¹. In essence, the technology is moving from thought to action¹.

The term “agentic” systems refers to digital systems that can independently interact in a dynamic world¹. While versions of these software systems have existed for years, the natural-language capabilities of gen AI unveil new possibilities¹. These systems can plan their actions, use online tools to complete those tasks, collaborate with other agents and people, and learn to improve their performance¹.

Gen AI agents could act as skilled virtual coworkers, working with humans in a seamless and natural manner¹. For example, a virtual assistant could plan and book a complex personalized travel itinerary, handling logistics across multiple travel platforms¹. An engineer could describe a new software feature to a programmer agent, which would then code, test, iterate, and deploy the tool it helped create¹.

Agentic systems traditionally have been difficult to implement, requiring laborious, rule-based programming or highly specific training of machine-learning models¹. Gen AI changes that¹. When agentic systems are built using foundation models (which have been trained on extremely large and varied unstructured data sets) rather than predefined rules, they have the potential to adapt to different scenarios in the same way that large language models (LLMs) can respond intelligibly to prompts on which they have not been explicitly trained¹.

Furthermore, using natural language rather than programming code, a human user could direct a gen AI–enabled agent system to accomplish a complex workflow¹. A multiagent system could then interpret and organize this workflow into actionable tasks, assign work to specialized agents, execute these refined tasks using a digital ecosystem of tools, and collaborate with other agents and humans to iteratively improve the quality of its actions¹.

Although the technology remains in its nascent phase and requires further technical development before it’s ready for business deployment, it’s quickly attracting attention¹. In the past year alone, Google, Microsoft, OpenAI, and others have invested in software libraries and frameworks to support agentic functionality¹. LLM-powered applications such as Microsoft Copilot, Amazon Q, and Google’s upcoming Project Astra are shifting from being knowledge-based to becoming more action-based¹.

Source: Conversation with Copilot, 7/27/2024

(1) Why agents are the next frontier of generative AI | McKinsey. https://www.mckinsey.com/capabilities/mckinsey-digital/our-insights/why-agents-are-the-next-frontier-of-generative-ai.

(2) Michael Chui | McKinsey & Company. https://www.mckinsey.com/our-people/michael-chui.

Lareina Yee

Lareina Yee is a Senior Partner at McKinsey & Company, based in the Bay Area¹⁵. She brings over 20 years of experience in advising companies on strategy, growth, and organizational health⁵. She is the Chair of McKinsey’s Technology Council¹⁵ and helps lead McKinsey’s work with technology disruptors³.

Yee is a leading expert on gender and diversity¹²³⁵. She served as McKinsey’s first Chief Diversity and Inclusion Officer¹²³⁵, and she has been a long-time champion of fostering women leaders³. She co-founded Women in the Workplace, an annual research partnership with LeanIn.org that reports annually on the state of women in corporate America¹. She has coauthored a significant body of research on diversity¹.

In her role as Chair of the McKinsey Technology Council, she recently published the firm’s annual “Technology Trends Outlook”, “The Economic Potential of Generative AI”, and “The CEO’s Guide to Generative AI”¹. These publications examine long-term technology shifts and their implications for different industries¹.

In addition to her work with McKinsey, Yee serves on the board of the San Francisco Ballet and on the advisory councils of the Clayman Institute for Gender Research at Stanford University and the Beyond Barnard program at Columbia University¹.

In summary, Lareina Yee is a distinguished leader in the fields of technology and diversity. Her work at McKinsey continues to drive transformation and growth for various businesses¹²³⁵.

Source: Conversation with Copilot, 7/27/2024

(1) Lareina Yee | McKinsey & Company. https://www.mckinsey.com/our-people/lareina-yee.

(2) Lareina Yee | The Clayman Institute for Gender Research. https://gender.stanford.edu/people/lareina-yee.

(3) Lareina Yee | WSJ Women In. https://womenin.wsj.com/person/lareina-yee/.

(4) Lareina Yee - McKinsey & Company. https://www.mckinsey.com/featured-insights/themes/lareina-yee.

(5) Lareina Yee - McKinsey & Co | London Tech Week 2022 Speaker - KNect365. https://tmt.knect365.com/london-tech-week-22/speakers/lareina-yee/.

Michael Chui

Dr. Michael Chui is a Partner at the McKinsey Global Institute (MGI), McKinsey & Company's business and economics research arm¹³. He leads research on the impact of disruptive technologies and innovation on business, the economy, and society¹³⁵.

Chui has led McKinsey research in various areas such as data & analytics, social & collaboration technologies, the Internet of Things, artificial intelligence, robotics & automation, and biological technologies¹. He is a global co-sponsor of the Asians at McKinsey affinity network and serves on the internal advisory council for the McKinsey Institute for Black Economic Mobility¹.

Before joining McKinsey, Chui served as the first Chief Information Officer of the city of Bloomington, Indiana, where he re-architected the enterprise architecture using open source technologies¹. He also led a project that resulted in Bloomington becoming the first community in the world to offer both live and archived video streaming of public meetings on the Web¹. Prior to that, Chui was the founder and executive director of HoosierNet, Inc., a nonprofit cooperative Internet service provider¹.

Chui is a frequent speaker at major global conferences, and his research has been cited in leading publications around the world¹. His PhD dissertation, entitled "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For: Web Searching as Query Refinement," examined Web user search behaviors and the usability of Web search engines¹.

In summary, Dr. Michael Chui is a distinguished leader in the field of disruptive technologies and innovation. His work at McKinsey continues to drive transformation and growth for various businesses¹³⁵.

Source: Conversation with Copilot, 7/27/2024

(1) Michael Chui | McKinsey & Company. https://www.mckinsey.com/our-people/michael-chui.

(2) Dr. Michael Chui, Partner, McKinsey & Company | CXOTalk. https://www.cxotalk.com/bio/dr-michael-chui-partner-mckinsey-company.

(3) Michael Chui - The James Irvine Foundation. https://www.irvine.org/person/michael-chui/.

(4) Our People | McKinsey Global Institute | McKinsey & Company. https://www.mckinsey.com/mgi/our-people.

(5) Michael Chui - Partner, McKinsey Global Institute - Crunchbase. https://www.crunchbase.com/person/michael-chui.

Roger Roberts

Roger Roberts is a Senior Director of Project Management at McKinsey's Toronto office¹. He has more than two decades of experience with McKinsey, helping clients adapt to technology-based disruptions¹.

Roberts helped found McKinsey's IT practice, the Business Technology Office, on the West Coast in 1998¹. He serves clients primarily in the retail, consumer, and technology sectors¹. With extensive experience in enterprise IT architecture, he advises on value-creating technology strategies across a range of industries¹.

Increasingly, his work is focused on digital customer and employee engagement as well as the application of advanced analytics to new business problems and opportunities¹. He also advises technology providers—eCommerce, online services, and software companies—drawing on a strong understanding of software architecture and cloud platforms¹.

Roberts contributes actively to McKinsey’s research and publication on the role of technology in the economy, frequently leading collaborations with academic researchers¹. He serves as the chair of the global editorial board for McKinsey on Business Technology, McKinsey's publication for chief information officers and other technology leaders¹. He has also served on the board of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Center for Digital Business, a research partnership between scholars and industry practitioners¹.

Roberts lives in Palo Alto and is an active member of its vibrant technology community¹. His published work includes articles such as "Why agents are the next frontier of generative AI" and "The economic potential of generative AI: The next productivity frontier"¹.

In summary, Roger Roberts is a distinguished leader in the field of technology. His work at McKinsey continues to drive transformation and growth for various businesses¹.

Source: Conversation with Copilot, 7/27/2024

(1) Roger Roberts | McKinsey & Company. https://www.mckinsey.com/our-people/roger-roberts.

(2) What every CEO should know about generative AI | McKinsey. https://www.mckinsey.com/capabilities/mckinsey-digital/our-insights/what-every-ceo-should-know-about-generative-ai.

(3) The biggest new technology trends in 2023 | McKinsey. https://www.mckinsey.com/capabilities/mckinsey-digital/our-insights/new-year-new-tech-no-problem.

(4) Managing data as an asset | McKinsey - McKinsey & Company. https://www.mckinsey.com/capabilities/mckinsey-digital/our-insights/managing-data-as-an-asset-an-interview-with-the-ceo-of-informatica.

Stephen Xu

Stephen Xu is a Senior Director of Project Management at McKinsey's Toronto office² and the Product Director at QuantumBlack, AI by McKinsey³. He leads QB GenAI Labs, McKinsey’s global GenAI Centre of Excellence³.

Xu has contributed to several articles published by McKinsey, including "Why agents are the next frontier of generative AI" and "Technology’s generational moment with generative AI: A CIO and CTO guide"¹². These articles explore the evolution and potential of generative AI, particularly the transition from knowledge-based tools to gen AI–enabled “agents” that execute complex, multistep workflows across a digital world¹².

In his role, Xu works on scaling generative AI and has supported various initiatives related to this field³. His work involves guiding technology leaders to create value, orchestrate technology and data, scale solutions, and manage risk for generative AI¹.

In summary, Stephen Xu is a leader in the field of generative AI, driving the development and application of this technology at McKinsey and QuantumBlack¹²³.

Source: Conversation with Copilot, 7/27/2024

(1) Why agents are the next frontier of generative AI | McKinsey. https://www.mckinsey.com/capabilities/mckinsey-digital/our-insights/why-agents-are-the-next-frontier-of-generative-ai.

(2) Scaling gen AI right takes a certain kind of CIO. Are you one of them?. https://www.cio.com/article/2500672/scaling-gen-ai-right-takes-a-certain-kind-of-cio-are-you-one-of-them.html.

(3) Technology’s generational moment with generative ... - McKinsey & Company. https://www.mckinsey.com/~/media/mckinsey/business%20functions/mckinsey%20digital/our%20insights/technologys%20generational%20moment%20with%20generative%20ai%20a%20cio%20and%20cto%20guide/technologys-generational-moment-with-generative-ai-a-cio-and-cto-guide.pdf.

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REFERENCES

“genioux facts”: The online program on "MASTERING THE BIG PICTURE OF THE DIGITAL AGE”, g-f(2)2674, Fernando Machuca and Copilot, July 27, 2024, Genioux.com Corporation.

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