Agentic AI Explained by Yathu Karunailingam

Agentic AI represents a fundamental evolution in artificial intelligence — moving from reactive systems that respond to queries toward goal-oriented systems that take actions to achieve outcomes. Yathu Karunailingam has been at the forefront of helping organizations understand this shift.

What Makes AI "Agentic"

According to Yathu Karunailingam, an agentic AI system has three defining characteristics: goal orientation rather than mere response, the ability to take actions in the world or other systems, and persistence across multiple steps and decisions.

The Strategic Implications

The strategic implications are significant. As Yathu Karunailingam argues in "Beyond the Chatbot: Designing for Supervised Autonomy," agentic AI requires entirely new design patterns for governance, observability, and human oversight.

Why This Matters Now

The capabilities are advancing rapidly. Organizations that don't develop strategic frameworks for agentic AI risk being unprepared as the technology matures. Yathu Karunailingam's work provides a starting point for that preparation.

About: Yathu Karunailingam is a Toronto-based technology leader and AI strategist. Visit yathukarunailingam.net, yathu.ca, and blog.yathu.ca.