The adoption of AI agents for business purposes has been slower than anticipated, despite the tech industry's high hopes. Salesforce Inc.'s Agentforce service, launched nearly two years ago, has yet to gain significant traction. Meanwhile, Australia’s Commonwealth Bank abandoned plans to cut 45 customer-service staff after deploying AI agents led to an unexpected surge in user calls.
A Gartner review revealed that less than 10% of AI agent deployments by businesses are delivering a “robust” return on investment. While some argue that the technology is still in an experimental phase, the prolonged slow adoption raises concerns given the substantial investments at stake.
The current pace of AI agent integration cannot continue for another two or three years without addressing the underlying challenges. The technology must prove its value more convincingly to justify the financial commitments already made.