Why commercial-grade AI is key to thriving in the AI-first era

Research shows 67% of agentic AI projects succeed when using commercial systems.

The world is heading into an AI-first era, and companies need to start acting now and build on commercial-grade systems to stay ahead, said Roger Barga, senior vice president, Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning at Oracle.

“I actually believe we’re going to move into an AI-first world, where every employee first asks, ‘How can AI help me carry out this task?’ or ‘How can I use AI to improve my workflow and processes?’” Barga told Asian Business Review on the sidelines of Oracle AI World in Las Vegas.

Citing a study by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Barga said 67% of agentic AI projects built on top of commercial-grade AI services succeed, whereas only a third of those that go it alone or build from scratch do.

“Going solo is a sure path to failure, whereas building on commercial-grade services is a path to success,” Barga said.

“Companies need to start acting now, learning by practising, getting projects into flight, evaluating their progress, and knowing when to pause and restart. People must start building today.”

Barga added that agentic AI and generative AI in general will benefit most sectors, especially in areas where human workflows are expensive and time-consuming.

“Generative AI can accelerate humans to carry out these processes more efficiently. We see this in finance, in healthcare, and in customer service across the board,” he said.

“What’s most striking about generative AI is that you interact with it using natural language. That means every employee and every possible workforce scenario can take advantage of this technology,” he added.