AI agents are emerging as the next evolution in enterprise intelligence, moving beyond copilots to autonomous systems capable of driving outcomes. As companies adopt them across departments, complexity surges and execution risks rise.

IBM Corp. is focused on developing AI agents that execute across systems rather than merely assist at the edges. These agents are designed to integrate with legacy and modern tools, orchestrating processes across the full sprawl of enterprise infrastructure, according to Ritika Gunnar (pictured), general manager for data and artificial intelligence at IBM.

IBM’s Ritika Gunnar talks with theCUBE about how agent frameworks are reshaping enterprise automation.

“Now we’re in the realm of AI that can do for you,” she said. “This is a very powerful new chapter … we’re hearing that from a lot of our clients and the use cases that they’re driving and how they’re actually leveraging the technologies. This is a very, very poignant time in technology, and we really think that there is a new era, what we’re calling the era of systems of intelligence.”

Gunnar spoke with theCUBE Research’s Dave Vellante at IBM Think, during an exclusive broadcast on theCUBE, SiliconANGLE Media’s livestreaming studio. They discussed how agent frameworks reshape enterprise automation, why orchestration matters and how IBM addresses unstructured data. (* Disclosure below.)

Bringing AI agents to life across the enterprise

Instead of replacing entire software stacks with AI-native applications, IBM blends agentic functionality into existing systems. That strategy includes leveraging fixed workflows, enabling agent-based enhancements and allowing customers to scale into full orchestration when needed, according to Gunnar.

“Being able to have a good balance of bringing the benefits of agentic technology … and have it live alongside your existing systems is really critical,” she said. “Being able to execute across agents that you’ve built … that exist in your third-party systems, across stuff that maybe you have done from accelerators that we have given you and your fixed systems, is important. Your existing estate is really critical in that discussion, and bringing your clients in this journey so they can see that as quickly as possible is important.”

To help enterprises get started, IBM has unveiled a lineup of prebuilt AI agents in areas such as human resources, sales and procurement, with more planned in customer care and finance, according to Gunnar. These domain-specific agents can be customized, integrated and orchestrated using IBM’s frameworks.

“This is really where the power is … how do you orchestrate all those different layers?” she asked. “[We have] a new interaction paradigm to work across this multi-agent orchestration framework, across all those systems, whether those be agents, tools or anything else underneath that. It is about [being] open … hybrid … because we know agents are going to run everywhere. Your systems are going to exist in many different forms, in agentic and non-agentic.”

The agentic strategy converges with IBM’s push to unlock unstructured data. IBM’s watsonx offerings aim to bridge IT and business needs by enabling users to build intelligent AI agents grounded in enterprise data, according to Gunnar.

“We believe that we’re going to see an explosion of the 90% of unstructured data that today has been untapped … unlocked by the fact that we can now use gen AI to … have much better document understanding,” she said. “You’re untapping a whole new set of intelligence that’s now available.”

Here’s the complete video interview, part of SiliconANGLE’s and theCUBE’s coverage of IBM Think:

(* Disclosure: TheCUBE is a paid media partner for IBM Think. Neither IBM Corp., the sponsor of theCUBE’s event coverage, nor other sponsors have editorial control over content on theCUBE or SiliconANGLE.)

Photo: SiliconANGLE