The proactive nature of agentic AI, on the other hand, means it can pull information from multiple sources, use sophisticated reasoning and then automatically complete the next task.
“Agentic AI builds on generative AI, taking simple responses further with the ability to consider options, go back and redo steps,” says Saunders. “It works much more like we do, when we solve problems and work out how to consider new information.”
For example, some schools face problems with student attendance. Agentic AI could “look at student attendance data, historical test data and instructional strategies, pulling all of that together to make a predictive analysis and create a strategy to increase attendance,” Wendy Jones, a K–12 education strategist manager for CDW, said in an EdTech blog article.
What Should IT Leaders Know About Agentic AI?
Because AI agents can operate autonomously, data quality and oversight are even more critical.
Saunders notes that IT professionals may be able to rely on their existing partnerships with third-party vendors to securely implement agentic AI. “Many technology providers are now building agents into their own platforms,” she says.
For example, Google’s Gemini 2.0 implements agentic AI. The company is also working to build and share best practices for securing AI agents, advocating in a recent white paper for others to follow its lead in implementing “a hybrid approach, combining the strengths of both traditional, deterministic controls and dynamic, reasoning-based defenses.”
RELATED: Microsoft helps K–12 districts police their artificial intelligence work.
Working with technology vendors creates a roadmap for IT leaders to start using agents in the systems they’re already running. This can help them keep pace with other schools and industries that are implementing these technologies. “Agentic AI is already transforming enterprises and is likely to be a multitrillion-dollar opportunity,” Saunders says.
