What Needs to Happen for Agentic AI to Take Off

As the artificial intelligence (AI) space and the related investment thesis evolve at fevered pitches, market participants are increasingly curious about what the follow-up to generative AI will be. The answer largely revolves agentic AI, a form of AI that involves computers and machines performing human functions with limited human input.

Even more compelling is that agentic AI can result in machines learning and evolving, leading to increased efficiencies for end users. For investors engaged with AI-heavy ETFs such as the Invesco QQQ Trust (QQQ) and the Invesco NASDAQ 100 ETF (QQQM), agentic AI’s evolution is something to watch, particularly because agentic AI deployment is just scratching the surface of what it could become over the long-term.

An EY report published earlier this year indicated that while agentic AI adoption is gaining momentum at the corporate level, just “14% of senior leaders report agentic AI technology has been fully implemented in their organization.”

QQQ Could Benefit from Increased AI Understanding

As was the case in the early days of the generative AI boom, ETFs like QQQ and QQQM could derive benefit from prospective adopters bolstering their education bases regarding agentic AI. As corporate leaders gain better understanding of agentic AI’s perks, adoption could increase. That could lift the Invesco ETFs in the process.

Being knowledgeable of expensive corporate products and technologies is always important. That theme is meaningful to investors, too, because it can speed adoption and compel higher levels of spending. Those trends could be positive sparks for QQQ and QQQM.

“While nearly every senior leader says AI is paying off, the real gains go to those who go big. Organizations investing 5% or more of their total budget in AI are pulling ahead fast, especially in technology upgrades (82% vs. 62%), customer satisfaction (78% vs. 55%) and cybersecurity (78% vs. 49%), compared to companies that spend less than 5%,” added EY.

At the corporate level, executives and IT departments are concerned about cybersecurity and data privacy as it relates to large-scale agentic AI deployment. They also believe that form of AI needs more robust internal and external regulations. Should those issues be addressed, agentic AI purveyors residing in QQQ and QQQM could benefit.

“Despite these challenges, an overwhelming majority (89%) of senior leaders believe that while they are optimistic about agentic AI’s benefits, built-in human intervention will always be crucial. Reinforcing this perspective, a significant trend shows more senior leaders (64% vs. 49% year over year (YoY)) anticipate that their organization will spend more time training employees on how to use AI responsibly over the next year,” concluded EY.

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