Agentic Artificial Intelligence: Harnessing AI Agents to Reinvent Business, Work and Life

by Pascal Bornet, Jochen Wirtz, Thomas H. Davenport

A practical, non-technical guide for business leaders, entrepreneurs, and curious minds
"Agents are (…) bringing about the biggest revolution in computing since we went from typing commands to tapping on icons." — Bill Gates
"AI agents will become the primary way we interact with computers in the future.” — Satya Nadella
"The age of agentic AI is here"— Jensen Huang


In a world where ChatGPT took us by storm, a far more powerful revolution is AI Agents. Like Jarvis in Iron Man or Samantha in Her, these intelligent systems can execute actions, learn from experience, and orchestrate digital interactions with minimal human supervision. They promise to redefine business and society.

However, behind the excitement lies a crucial a significant gap between promise and reality.

This comprehensive guide on agentic AI cuts through the hype and offers a clear, jargon-free strategic roadmap to understanding and applying this technology. The authors bring a rare perspective, having implemented agentic AI across diverse organizations—from global enterprises to agile startups—witnessing both remarkable successes and sobering failures.

Through illuminating case studies and hands-on experiments, the authors reveal:

- A step-by-step method for identifying high-value agentic opportunities and building impactful agents in your business, work, and personal life

- The secrets behind today's most successful agentic transformations at scale: cutting costs by over 25% while boosting customer satisfaction by over 40%

- Approaches to seize the new opportunities of the Agent Economy—new business models, Agentic-driven startups, rapid scaling, and game-changing revenue opportunities.

- Hands-on guidance to navigate common pitfalls such as workflow integration, error handling, data quality, agent control, and user adoption

- The new mindset and skills required to lead effectively in a world where humans and AI agents need to work seamlessly together

- The profound impact of agentic AI on society, employment, education, and our personal lives


AI agents create what the authors call "compounding intelligence advantages"—the more they're used, the smarter they become, creating an accelerating gap between early adopters and laggards. Hence, those who understand and leverage AI agents today will define the next business era.

The question isn’t whether AI agents will transform your industry—it’s how you will lead that change. Every revolution demands foresight and responsibility. This book challenges you to not just adopt agentic AI, but to shape it with purpose and integrity.

Genres: Artificial Intelligence, Business, Technology, Audiobook, Nonfiction

572 pages, Kindle Edition

Published March 12, 2025

Reviews

[Steve · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Agentic Artificial Intelligence: Harnessing AI Agents to Reinvent Business, Work and Life" by Pascal Bornet, Jochen Wirtz, Thomas H. Davenport, and a cadre of AI experts, Published in 2025, is a compelling audiobook that charts the transformative potential of agentic AI - autonomous systems that act, learn, and adapt with minimal human oversight. Narrated by Rory Young, this non-technical guide, offers a pragmatic roadmap for business leaders, entrepreneurs, and curious minds eager to navigate the AI revolution. It avoids jargon, focusing on real-world applications, making it accessible yet profound.

The audiobook opens with a bold premise: AI agents, likened to sci-fi icons like Jarvis from Iron Man, are poised to redefine how we work and live. Unlike ChatGPT’s conversational focus, these agents execute tasks, from automating workflows to orchestrating complex business processes. The authors, drawing from decades of experience at firms like McKinsey and EY, ground their insights in case studies across global enterprises and startups. A standout example is Pets at Home’s use of AI agents to balance automation with human touch, illustrating how businesses can scale efficiently while maintaining customer trust. The book’s strength lies in its structured approach, detailing the “building blocks” of agentic AI - large language models as the “brains,” automation tools as the “hands,” and persistent memory for learning.

Key highlights include a maturity model that traces AI agents from rule-based systems to autonomous collaborators, offering a clear framework for implementation. The authors emphasize identifying “high-value agentic opportunities,” claiming transformations can cut costs by over 25% and boost customer satisfaction by 40%. They also explore the “Agent Economy,” introducing new business models like AI-driven startups. Ethical considerations - privacy, fairness, and responsible deployment - are woven throughout, urging listeners to shape AI with integrity. Practical tips, like avoiding integration pitfalls and fostering a mindset for human-AI collaboration, make the audiobook actionable.

Rory Young’s narration enhances the experience. His clear, engaging delivery brings warmth to technical concepts, maintaining momentum through dense material. His pacing suits the audiobook’s blend of storytelling and analysis, though you might find his tone slightly formal during hands-on examples. The accompanying PDF, adds value with visuals and frameworks, enriching the listening experience.

The audiobook brings clarity and transformative insights on this topic. The occasional glowing case studies, might suggest a touch of optimism bias, but the audiobook should be praised for its depth and practicality. For instance, a startup founder called it “transformative,” crediting it with shaping their AI strategy. "Agentic Artificial Intelligence" is a must-listen for those ready to lead in an AI-driven world, offering a blend of vision and pragmatism that inspires action without overwhelming. It’s a clarion call to harness AI agents thoughtfully, positioning listeners to thrive in the next business era

[Kristina Overko · Rating 4 out of 5]

Agentic Artificial Intelligence offers a clear, forward-looking take on how AI agents are transforming business, work, and life. It explores the shift from traditional automation to intelligent, autonomous systems that learn and adapt. Practical, accessible, and well-structured, the book is a great read for anyone interested in how AI is evolving from tool to teammate.

For a deeper look into AI agents, check out: What Are Agents in Artificial Intelligence - https://ioni.ai/post/what-are-agents-...

[Adam · Rating 4 out of 5]

It has many good, informative and helpful parts. But there are other parts that are full of fluff and hand waving. The technical information is weirdly delegated to the end which makes it harder for the reader to establish whether the book examples are made up wishful thinking or refer to actual events and facts.
Overall recommended, though it doesn't make it easy to tell visions of the future from reports from the present.

[Josh · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very well written and interesting book about what the future could look like with AI. Great insights and ideas.

[Mad Hab · Rating 4 out of 5]

Five hundred pages long power point presentation with a lot of frameworks, bullet points, text in bold. and a lot of wishful thinking, predictions for the future and few cases on how AI revolutionize the world.

Still great book to understand what is going on.

[Alex Mahon · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is a well-structured and thoughtful guide to a fast-changing area of technology. While I have read widely on the business applications of AI, Agentic Artificial Intelligence stands apart for its clarity, relevance and focus on real-world impact.

What I valued most was its focus on AI agents as a tangible shift in how work gets done. The book avoids hype and instead gives a grounded explanation of how these tools are already reshaping workflows, industries and roles. The writing is accessible without being simplistic, and the layout makes it easy to refer back to specific sections.

There are plenty of relevant examples that show how to move from concept to application, and the discussion around decision-making, digital assistants and human-machine collaboration is particularly strong. It also touches on ethical concerns, which adds balance without getting stuck in theory.

If you are looking for a book that skips buzzwords and instead gives you a practical lens on where things are going and how to prepare, this is a solid choice. Highly recommended for business leaders, professionals and anyone trying to stay ahead of the curve as AI becomes part of daily operations.

[Nandan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Comprehensive source on Agentic AI

Covers all aspects from what, why, how and impact. Lists of case studies, strategies and insights. Must read for anyone into AI agents.

[Alejandro G. Rangel · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've spent a lot of time with tools like Gemini (my current favorite LLM), and while they're amazing, I've always felt a disconnect—they can talk a great game, but they can't actually do anything for you. This book is the first thing I've read that explains what comes next, and it's absolutely mind-blowing.

The authors draw a super clear line between the AI we know (generative AI) and the next wave: agentic AI. These are systems designed not just to chat, but to take action—to book your travel, manage your projects, or even run a small business on their own. The comparison to the different levels of self-driving cars was a brilliant touch that made the whole concept finally click for me.

What I appreciated most was that this isn't just high-level speculation. It breaks down how these agents work (the "Action, Reasoning, and Memory" part was fascinating) and provides a realistic look at both the incredible opportunities and the serious challenges, like safety and ethics. It felt like a grounded, practical guide rather than science fiction.

If you're curious about where AI is really heading beyond the current chatbot hype, this is a must-read. It's not just for tech people or executives; it's for anyone who wants to understand how our world and our work are about to fundamentally change.

[Paul Baker]

2025-08-16

Review 2025.07.011

Reviewers Note: It is the middle of 2025 and I am not doing a good job of keeping up with this desired goal of mine to write book reviews. I do not want to lower my expectations but I am going to so that I can catch up. This will mean short reviews on the books I read.

Agentic Artificial Intelligence by Pascal Bornet
572 Pages

I have read a few AI books this year and this was by far the best. There were points where I was very excited about the possibilities for my business and then points where I was concerned about the future of humanity. I jest, of course, but only slightly.

I can see how this book would be very beneficial for larger companies. That is not to say it is not helpful for small businesses too but in a small business you do not have the same resources as large companies do. I am hopeful to use some of the suggestions in the book to develop an AI Agent to help automate some processes but I am not sure when that will happen.

I recommend this book to people in larger companies who are interested in implementing AI Agents in their work.

[Mikhail Filatov · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book should be named “all the hype about Agents”.
There are many authors and it seems they split different chapters among them, so there are at least 3 different Agentic frameworks and advice goes from “one agent-one tool” to “one agent per e2e process like procure to pay”. The author(s) in love of blockchain also mentioned how great blockchain will work with agents.
So if you want to know all the hype -read the book. Anything useful…this book is not for you.

[Mario Sailer · Rating 1 out of 5]

A lot of text but in my view very generic. I wonder if the whole book was written by an AI because when I ask an AI for advice on a topic, I get similar generic results. Not wrong but also not good. Good enough for a novice maybe sufficient for an apprentice but beyond that level to unspecific and shallow.

[P David · Rating 4 out of 5]

Valuable background for the future of AI and its emerging “agency”

This is a significantly valuable book that helps us understand the way that any organisation - economic, cultural, governmental, or educational - will be transformed as AI moves to agent status. Follow-up studies by all of us should further analyse the iinsigths generated in this book.

[Jonathan Collins · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book reads like a textbook.
It is incredibly long, wordy, a bit verbose, and tends to repeat itself (much like this sentence).
It provides a great overview of artificial intelligence and how it can be applied in day to day work and living.
This book would be a great place to start for someone interested in learning about AI agents.

[Simon Hohenadl · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book taught me a good bit about the current state of agentic AI.
I didn't like the sober style much. Towards the end, I had the feeling that the same points were being repeated over. I found the attempts to connect to ethics and risks in the wider AI context unconvincing.

[Leonardo · Rating 2 out of 5]

Wow. The book has some interesting information, but it's buried under mountains of filler words from AI-generated chapters.

[Keith Woodruff · Rating 3 out of 5]

Was not prepared for how quickly this would be outdated info.

[hakan köse · Rating 5 out of 5]

i read twice, essential book

[Bhargav Mantha · Rating 4 out of 5]

nice primer on AI agents

Very comprehensive and balanced. Good frameworks on how to think about AI agents and setting them up. Could have more specific about specific domains.

[Colleen · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book is more than 500 pages long and written by seven men. I’m just saying if one woman wrote it it’d be 150 pages and have made her points more succinctly.

[Tom Winstanley · Rating 5 out of 5]

Book Review: “Agentic Artificial Intelligence: Harnessing AI Agents to Reinvent Business, Work and Life” — A Pragmatic Map for the Age of Agents

When I was scanning the contents table for this new book on the emerging field of agentic AI, the sections on the “memory” that modern organisations need to build — semantic, episodic, procedural, really stuck in my head. It’s a small thing, but it caught my eye. Not because it’s a unique perspective (it’s not), but because it signals something rare in the current flood of AI books: a genuine attempt to anchor agentic AI in the messy reality of enterprise architecture.

Bornet, Wirtz, and Davenport don’t appear to be the breathless hype types, like too many of the authors on this topic. They’ve been working in the (sadly too often not so) “intelligent” automation and robotic process automation (RPA) field for two decades, and their perspective is deeply grounded in the trenches — the kind where business cases are written in Excel, not philosophy. And that’s both the strength and in my view the subtle limitation of the book.

The strength is obvious: this is a practical, structured guide to how agent-based automation might actually work inside large, often dysfunctional organisations. The book presents a useful maturity model for agentic systems, walking through stages from simple rule-followers to autonomous collaborators. It’s peppered with real-world examples — some a bit too glowing to be fully trusted, but still illustrative. For CIOs, CTOs, and transformation leaders trying to navigate the gap between aspiration and execution, there’s value in this operational framing.

I particularly appreciated the clear process models and architectural considerations. The authors treat agents as a new class of enterprise “worker,” and explore what kind of infrastructure (technical and organisational) is required to support them. The book is packed full of useful two-by-two decision matrices, maturity models and phased roadmaps. There’s an implicit call to action here: stop slapping AI on the side of your processes and start thinking about how autonomous systems reshape your whole work design AND here is how you can get there.

Where the book is less compelling is in its treatment of the broader theoretical and ethical landscape. You won’t find much discussion of agency in the philosophical sense, nor a deep dive into the sociotechnical implications of humans and agents working together. It’s not that kind of book, although they do try to address these concerns — and that’s okay; I would go elsewhere for an elevated assessment of these concerns.

What this book is, is a playbook. A solid, well-structured, occasionally acronym-heavy playbook that helps leaders frame the messy middle of AI adoption. It’s not speculative, but it is strategic — in the “how do we make this work on Monday” sense of the word.

If you’re in the business of advising clients, leading tech strategy, or just trying to wrangle coherence out of a dozen half-baked AI initiatives, this book is well worth the time. Its focus is on what to do — and for most in the business, that’s exactly what is needed right now.

[Dave Drodge · Rating 4 out of 5]

After spending a week in AI & Tech conferences, I’m reflecting on the book Agentic AI. When we try to reduce down a complex subject like AI down to a framework it is good start to let us form our own opinions. The authors are coming mainly from the robotic process automation (RPA) point of view. They see the next level (#3) of Agentic AI from this context and speculates at a total of 5 levels. There are alternatives like a short episode in the book GAIN which looks at AI across 7 overlapping zones which I find a more nuanced and more complicated but I feel captures AI (& agentic AI) better. Still I recommend this book as a starting point for our shared understanding of Agentic AI so we can cut through the hype and practically use it today.