Agentic AI is a "big next step" in AI's evolution, SAP CEO says
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DAVOS, Switzerland – SAP is launching two AI agents this year – a sales AI agent and a supply chain AI agent, CEO Christian Klein said.
Why it matters: SAP's move to use these two AI agents underscores just how close agentic AI is to being deployed in the real world at scale.
Axios' Ina Fried moderated the conversation with Klein in Davos. The Jan. 23 discussion was sponsored by Mubadala and MGX.
How it works: Sales AI agents will recommend the best price and how to bundle products to "hit the consumer at the right point in time" while communicating with a supply chain AI agent to determine if the product is in stock and if it will be delivered on time, Klein said.
- The two AI agents will communicate "so that the sales agent is not making any kind of promises, which the supply chain can't fulfill," Klein said.
What they're saying: An important part to make agentic AI successful is being able to contextualize data, Klein said.
- "SAP is investing in a knowledge graph … to contextualize the data. Now that you can set it in context, that is very, very important. And then we need to bring it to adoption."
Caveat: About 80% of SAP's customers don't have the infrastructure, team or investment to do the work to implement AI agents – but that is where SAP plans to fill the gap, Klein said.
- "We have all the predictions, all the automation, it's coming with the software because oftentimes customers just don't have the team, also the investments to take a piece of AI and bring it into the context of the business," Klein added.
Sponsored content:
Mubadala Investment Company deputy chief strategy and risk officer Marc Antaki spoke in a View from the Top sponsored segment, along with MGX chief investment officer of technology Ali Osman, who said he believes the application of AI will "become very material in 2025."
- Antaki said Davos reinforced his belief that partnership will be "critical" for AI's complex world "because it's very clear that nobody can do it alone."
