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AI-driven innovations are beginning to change every aspect of our lives from home to school to work. Generative AI can augment our work such as an AI Assistant that responds to prompts, or it can enhance or automate activities in an almost imperceptible way.  When we look back 5 or so years from now, we will be blown away by how much has changed – highways and streets full of cars that safely drive themselves, robots that make dinner and do the dishes, and networks that fully heal themselves end-to-end. Generative AI is getting smarter and more powerful. 

The Future of Generative AI is Agentic 

With the advent of agentic AI, assistance is moving to automation where systems act with agency to achieve specific goals. Agentic AI systems can make rapid decisions, manage complex tasks, and adapt to changing conditions. They have agency to reach beyond the data their large language model was trained on and interact with external environments such as IOT sensors, cloud platforms or analytics software. The possibilities are endless for what an agentic AI system can achieve in improving customer experiences, increasing productivity, and creating new innovation.  

In a recent report on the top 10 strategic technology trends for 2025, Gartner predicts that by 2028, at least 15% of day-to-day work decisions will be taken autonomously through agentic AI. And because of its ability to take action and make decisions, agentic AI could help entire industries reimagine the way work gets done. For example, agentic systems can write software code to solve a problem, create a human-like gaming character, or act as a medical research assistant​. The opportunity to innovate has never been greater. 

Helping IT Deliver Better Experiences 

Leveraging various AI models and approaches including agentic AI in the network, new capabilities can be enabled to do things like analyze data, detect network anomalies, allocate network resources, and optimize network quality —all with little to no human supervision. This can be a game-changer for IT. The technology can help automate routine tasks, identify and solve issues, and optimize performance, resulting in transformative business outcomes like reduced downtime and improved user experiences. This technology can also lend to a more robust network infrastructure that adapts to changing demands and scales as your business grows. 

Delivering ​Infrastructure for AI​ with Resilience 

According to the Cisco AI Readiness Index, 54% of those surveyed acknowledge their infrastructure has limited or moderate scalability and flexibility to accommodate the increasing needs for AI-powered technologies. Adaptable, secure, and resilient infrastructure gets your data center ready for the power of agentic AI.  

At Cisco, we provide the infrastructure to power AI and can help you along your unique journey. ​We recently announced HyperFabric AI, innovative AI switches and servers for designing, deploying, and managing AI infrastructure that is intelligent, automated, and adaptable. We also announced new services to help our customers on their AI journey. We’re excited about the role we’re playing in building the digital resilience that our customers need to connect and protect users, applications, and data in the agentic AI era. 



Authors

Denise Shiffman

Senior Vice President

Networking Strategy and Marketing