AI Agents: Here but Not Yet Trusted

Published Date : 12/02/2025 

Tech vendors like OpenAI and Microsoft are pushing the boundaries of AI agents, but businesses remain cautious. The technology is here, but widespread trust and adoption are still pending. 

Artificial intelligence agents, the technology capable of performing tasks on behalf of humans, are making waves.

However, businesses aren’t fully on board yet, as trust and reliability issues loom large.

This was evident at The Wall Street Journal’s CIO Network Summit in Menlo Park, California, which attracts top IT leaders from across the country.

According to the summit, 61% of attendees are experimenting with AI agents, but 21% have not started using them at all.

The primary concern is a lack of reliability, as highlighted in a poll.

This stands in stark contrast to the enthusiasm of tech vendors like OpenAI, Microsoft, and Sierra, who are banking on the idea that enterprises will soon be ready to embrace AI agents.

Bret Taylor, co-founder and CEO of Sierra and chairman of OpenAI, emphasized the importance of accepting imperfections.

‘Accept that it is imperfect.

Rather than say, “Will AI do something wrong,” say, “When it does something wrong, what are the operational mitigations that we’ve put in place to deal with it?”’ he said.

Cybersecurity and data privacy are also major concerns for 29% of the summit attendees.

Srinivas Narayanan, vice president of engineering at OpenAI, noted that it’s ‘too early’ to know exactly how customers are using their Operator AI agent, which can browse the web autonomously and synthesize large amounts of internet data.

Jared Spataro, corporate vice president of AI at Work at Microsoft, shared the company’s strategy.

‘When you use that simple frame, an assistant, Copilot, plus agents, we think you kind of wind up with the right pattern,’ he said.

Microsoft plans to combine its Copilot AI assistant with AI agents to help companies derive value from AI.

Despite the promise, 75% of summit attendees believe AI is currently driving only a small amount of value for their investments.

Jim Siders, chief information officer of data analytics firm Palantir, commented on the ‘hammer looking for nails’ phenomenon.

‘They’re so scared to be left out of a revolution in progress that they buy an AI thing of some kind, and they try to figure out how to drive value with it,’ he said.

InformationOpenAI is a leading AI research and deployment company, known for its advanced language models and AI agents.

Microsoft, a global tech giant, is integrating AI into its products to enhance productivity and automation.

Sierra, an agentic AI startup, is working on AI agents that can perform complex tasks autonomously.

OpenAI is a research laboratory and AI platform company based in San Francisco, California.

Founded in 2015, OpenAI aims to ensure that artificial general intelligence benefits all of humanity.

Microsoft Corporation is a technology multinational corporation based in Redmond, Washington.

It develops, manufactures, licenses, supports, and sells computer software, consumer electronics, personal computers, and related services.

Sierra is a startup focused on developing agentic AI, which can perform tasks autonomously and improve over time through learning. 

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQS):

Q: What are AI agents?

A: AI agents are technologies capable of performing tasks on behalf of humans, often autonomously. They can range from simple bots to sophisticated systems that can browse the web and synthesize data.

Q: Why are businesses hesitant to adopt AI agents?

A: Businesses are hesitant due to concerns about reliability, cybersecurity, and data privacy. They are also cautious about the potential risks and the current lack of value derived from AI investments.

Q: Which companies are leading in AI agent technology?

A: OpenAI, Microsoft, and Sierra are some of the leading companies in AI agent technology. OpenAI is known for its advanced language models, Microsoft for integrating AI into its products, and Sierra for its agentic AI solutions.

Q: What is Microsoft's strategy for AI adoption?

A: Microsoft's strategy involves combining its Copilot AI assistant with AI agents to help companies derive value from AI. They aim to create a seamless and effective AI-assisted workflow.

Q: What is the 'hammer looking for nails' phenomenon in AI adoption?

A: This phenomenon refers to companies buying AI technology out of fear of missing out on a revolution, even when they are not sure how to derive value from it. They are essentially looking for problems to solve with the AI tools they have. 

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