SILICON VALLEY / LONDON / SINGAPORE – January 25, 2026 – The era of the “scripted bot” is officially over. According to the 2026 Global Tech Insights report released this morning, the corporate world has reached a definitive tipping point: 60% of large organizations have now abandoned traditional Robotic Process Automation (RPA) in favor of Agentic AI.
For years, RPA was the workhorse of digital transformation, but its limitations—rigidity, inability to handle exceptions, and high maintenance—have finally led to its displacement by autonomous, reasoning “Agents” that don’t just follow a script; they own the outcome.
From “Follow the Script” to “Achieve the Goal”
The primary driver behind this mass migration is the shift from task-based automation to goal-oriented autonomy. Traditional RPA bots are essentially digital assembly-line workers: if a UI button moves 5 pixels to the left, the bot breaks.
In contrast, Agentic AI utilizes Large Language Models (LLMs) as a “reasoning engine” to navigate ambiguity.
| Feature | Legacy RPA (2020–2024) | Agentic AI (2026) |
| Logic Type | If-Then-Else (Deterministic) | Reasoning & Planning (Probabilistic) |
| Adaptability | Fails on UI or data changes. | Self-corrects and navigates changes. |
| Decision Making | Requires human intervention for exceptions. | Autonomously resolves 90% of exceptions. |
| Interaction | Silent, background execution. | Conversational; can “explain” its logic. |
Case Study: The $10 Million Negotiation
One of the most startling revelations in the 2026 report is the rise of Autonomous Negotiation Agents. Global logistics giant Maersk and retail titan Walmart are cited as early adopters who have successfully handed over thousands of vendor contract negotiations to AI agents.
“We no longer have procurement officers spending weeks on $50,000 contracts,” says Sarah Chen, CTO of a Fortune 500 logistics firm. “Our Agents analyze historical pricing, current 2nm chip shortages, and ESG compliance scores to negotiate with the supplier’s own AI. They reach an optimal deal in minutes—something that used to take three human weeks.”
Supply Chain Resilience: The “Always-On” Architect
While RPA could move an invoice from Folder A to Folder B, Agentic AI is now managing entire supply chain disruptions without a human prompt. When a major port in Southeast Asia faced a “digital darkness” outage last week, AI Agents across the sector didn’t wait for a manager’s signal. They:
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Identified the delay via real-time satellite and news feeds.
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Calculated the economics of rerouting cargo vs. waiting.
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Negotiated new slots with alternative carriers.
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Updated inventory forecasts and notified downstream customers.
“If RPA was the hands of the digital enterprise, Agentic AI is the prefrontal cortex,” notes the Global Tech Insights report. “It perceives, reasons, and acts.”
The “AI Realism” Reality: A Workforce in Flux
The displacement of RPA has led to a massive reshuffling of the IT workforce. The “Citizen Developer” who used to build low-code RPA bots is being replaced by the “Agent Orchestrator”—a role focused on setting the guardrails, ethics, and high-level objectives for a “swarm” of AI agents.
However, the report warns that the transition isn’t without friction. Governance-as-Code has become the new mandate, as organizations struggle to ensure that autonomous agents don’t “hallucinate” or commit the company to disadvantageous legal terms in their quest to hit a goal.
The Silicon Bottom Line
With the 2nm chip revolution providing the local compute power needed to run these complex “brains” on-device, the cost of running an AI Agent has dropped by 70% in the last 12 months. For the 40% of companies still clinging to legacy RPA, the message from Davos is clear: adapt your operating model or be out-negotiated by a machine.
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