"We're still in the earliest days of artificial intelligence. It was just November 2022 when OpenAI released ChatGPT, and the world changed. However, enough time has passed for us to have a sufficient perspective to categorize AI and autonomous agents into three distinct eras. Introduction-2024: In the initial shockwave, there was more novelty and hype than practicality around the possibilities of AI. Businesses and leaders understandably struggled to understand what was barreling toward them."
"Two things can be true at the same time. We can observe heightened speculation about AI alongside the on-the-ground emergence of agentic capabilities in real-world environments. The massive investments in power generation, data centers, and chip innovation are unlike anything we've ever witnessed. The market cap of hyperscalers is reaching vertigo-inducing heights. Jamie Dimon, the CEO of JPMorgan Chase, frequently references this as a "picks-and-shovels" moment in a modern gold rush"
"The coming year is when we begin to see a real payoff from business investments as innovative organizations take what they've learned and seriously embrace AI, embedding agents throughout their operations to realize value. It's an absolute certainty that AI activation will become the story of business. We're witnessing a profound shift from pilots to production agents embedded in real business processes, and it's going to explode exponentially as AI adoption enters the mainstream enterprise and delivers measurable ROI."
AI entered public consciousness with ChatGPT in November 2022, marking the beginning of a rapid technological shift. AI development can be framed in three eras: Introduction (2024) marked by novelty and hype; Evaluation (2025) where organizations piloted projects but frequently failed to realize expected results; and Production (2026) when businesses begin embedding autonomous agents across operations to generate measurable ROI. Major investments are flowing into power, data centers, and chips, and hyperscaler valuations are soaring. AI activation will drive enterprise transformation as organizations move from pilots to production-grade agents, raising high strategic and operational stakes.
Read at Fast Company
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