The Rise of Agentic AI: How Tech Giants Are Betting Big on Autonomous AI Agents

On February 21, 2025, the concept of “Agentic AI” emerged as a key discussion point among executives at top technology companies and their corporate clients. Since OpenAI’s launch of ChatGPT in late 2022, industry giants like Microsoft, Alphabet, and Amazon have invested tens of billions of dollars into startups specializing in large-language models (LLMs). These AI systems process vast text datasets to generate human-like interactions. However, despite the massive investments, the financial viability of leading AI firms such as OpenAI and Anthropic remains uncertain. A major challenge arises from Chinese AI startup DeepSeek, which has introduced models that match Western AI performance at significantly lower costs. This competitive landscape has prompted major tech companies to shift their focus toward AI agents, advanced systems capable of automating complex human tasks, signaling the start of a new phase in AI-powered automation.