Modern Vocabulary: AGENTIC
Operating independently
Saturdays are perfect days for self-directed surprises. Surprise—we’re exploring the meaning and prevalence of the term AGENTIC today!
In the current artificial intelligence-obsessed environment, rarely does a day go by without some tech evangelist breathlessly proclaiming the power of agentic AI. Believe it or not, this buzzword originated long before the latest tech revolution:
agentic (adj) - pertaining to or possessing the autonomy and ability to plan and act independently toward a goal; self-directed and intrinsically motivated [ay-jent-ik]
BREAKDOWN: AG- (to do or drive) + -ENT (one who does) + -IC (characterized by)
The root of the word agentic is AG- meaning to do or drive in words like agitate, coagulate, and cogent. At its heart is a common word: agent.
agent (noun) - a person who acts on behalf of another person, group, business or government; anything that brings about an effect or reaction
BREAKDOWN: AG- (to do or drive) + -ENT (one who does)
—agency is the ability or authority to act
—agency is also a business or organization that provides a service
Basically, agentic, as applied to people or processes, means able to act in a self-directed way. So agentic AI doesn’t require oversight or even specific instructions. Instead, it would act proactively from initial prompting and be capable of reasoning, planning, and using tools to execute workflows from start to finish. Depending on your worldview, this might sound exciting or terrifying…
“Men often oppose a thing merely because they have had no agency in planning it, or because it may have been planned by those whom they dislike.” —Alexander Hamilton