AI agents are quickly becoming one of the most powerful tools in the enterprise AI toolkit. According to Cloudera’s latest Agentic AI Survey, 96% of enterprises plan to expand their use of AI agents. But what’s driving this surge, and how can organizations turn hype into results?

In this episode of The AI Forecast, host Paul Muller sits down with Abhas Ricky, Chief Strategy Officer at Cloudera, to explore the real momentum behind agentic AI. From healthcare to telecom, Abhas unpacks how AI agents are already transforming operations with speed, intelligence, and autonomy.

The conversation touches on key findings from the survey, the biggest barriers to adoption (spoiler: data privacy tops the list), and how to scale responsibly—starting with fast-to-value use cases like internal IT agents. Abhas also shares his outlook for the next 12–18 months, and what it will take for enterprises to move from proof-of-concept to production.

Stay in touch with Abhas:

Abhas on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/abhasricky/
Abhas on X: https://x.com/rickyabhas
Read about the future of Enterprise AI agents: https://www.cloudera.com/campaign/the-future-of-enterprise-ai-agents.html?internal_keyplay=AI&internal_campaign=Other---AlwaysOn-FY26-Q1-GLOBAL-CT-Report-The-Future-of-Enterprise-AI-Agents&cid=701Ui00000SH4IQIA1&internal_link=on-page-body

+++

Like and subscribe to The AI Forecast to stay up to date on the latest episodes. You can watch the video version of this episode on The AI Forecast.

Why AI Agents Are the Future of Enterprise AI with Cloudera’s Abhas Ricky