agentic
Describing something that acts with initiative and autonomy; in technology it often describes software that takes multi-step actions toward a goal.
Definition
Agentic is a relatively new adjective built from agent. In psychology and sociology it describes people who act on their own initiative and take control of their circumstances. In technology it has become popular for software systems that plan and carry out several steps toward a goal with limited human direction, rather than answering one prompt at a time. Because the term is used loosely, it helps to ask what exactly the system can decide, what it can do without approval, and who is accountable when it acts. The word is not a standard legal term.
In a sentence
The vendor described its assistant as agentic because it can book meetings without being asked each time.
Teams should define which actions an agentic tool may take unattended.
Common mix-up
Marketing use of the word is inconsistent; ask for specifics about what the system actually does.
