In the National Museum of Scotland, a full-scale white statue of James Watt captures him in a moment of intense inspiration, bent over his writing, frantically recording his thoughts. His improvements to a basic steam engine from sixty years earlier, replacing human power with superior mechanics, had profound consequences. While initially causing significant job losses and social unrest, the resulting surge in productivity enriched capitalists, fueling the construction of factories, creating new employment, and ultimately easing unemployment, thereby igniting the Industrial Revolution.

Does that narrative ring a bell? The parallels between the anxieties surrounding the steam engine and those surrounding AI are remarkable. Over two hundred years ago, people worried about machines taking over human jobs; today, that same fear is echoed in our concerns about artificial intelligence.

Humanity transitioned from nomadic hunter-gatherers to settled agriculturalists over 10,000 years ago, only to initiate the Industrial Revolution millennia later. Yet, a mere 200 years after the Industrial Revolution, the AI revolution is upon us. Generative AI, in particular, has rapidly advanced from passively answering questions to mastering diverse tasks like image and video creation. Just as we are starting to grasp generative AI, even more proactive and autonomous “agentic AI” has arrived.

This agentic AI, a revolutionary 'digital species', is evolving quickly. Unlike traditional systems with predictable input-output relationships, it is a thinking entity, As IIIT consultant Zhu Shiyou explains in this issue, autonomously implementing what it considers to be the best solution.

For finance professionals, generative AI can be used to analyze markets and create reports. Agentic AI then uses those reports to create and execute trading plans, constantly adapting to real-time data. It even considers your stress levels and emotional patterns, offering advice when you are most alert, and awaiting your approval before acting. With full authorization, it can execute trades autonomously.

Ten years ago, this would have been science fiction, but today, it is reality. It will not just affect finance either; every industry will soon be scrambling. It was not long ago that people debated how to put generative AI into practical application, but now, commercially viable agentic AI has arrived.

Agentic AI will be a “paradigm shift,” as described by the philosopher Thomas Kuhn. This uncharted territory will demand a restructuring of social norms and legal frameworks established over the past century for the mechanical age. It will impact everyone, whether governments, industries, or individuals, requiring immediate adaptation to the challenges it poses. While practical applications may seem distant, the advent of reasoning AI has dramatically accelerated its own evolutionary trajectory.