AfriPulse
As we approach the end of the year, boards across Africa are finalising their 2026 strategies. One trend quickly emerges as a strategic priority: Agentic AI – systems that don’t simply respond to prompts but plan, act and execute tasks autonomously. This evolution is not academic. A recent global survey found that 23 percent of organisations report they are already scaling agentic AI systems, while another 39 percent are experimenting with agents in at least one business function.
Imagine a digital worker that receives a business goal, breaks it into tasks, logs into multiple enterprise systems, triggers workflows, follows up on exceptions, and reports completion, all without human prompting. This is how many modern enterprise service agents now operate. In IT, HR, finance, and customer operations, these agents can reset access rights, reconcile records, resolve service tickets, issue credits, or trigger payments end-to-end. The business upside is clear: speed, consistency, cost efficiency, and scale.
Agentic systems are already moving from labs to business processes – they act (not only advise) and therefore shift where operational and legal risk sits in the organisation.
But when systems act at machine speed, failure also scales at machine speed. In one well-documented market incident, an autonomous trading system was deployed without sufficient control. Within less than an hour, it executed thousands of unintended transactions, wiping out hundreds of millions in firm value before humans could intervene. No cyberattack.
No malicious intent. Just unchecked autonomy in a live production environment.
For stakeholders – customers, regulators, investors – the calculus is simple. When Agentic AI is deployed with discipline, it creates measurable value: faster cycle times, resource redeployment, and new product or service velocity. When it is deployed without adequate oversight, the downside can be sharp: regulatory fines, legal liability, loss of customer trust, and operational disruption. Regulatory and legal liability now tracks AI behaviour directly: when agents interact with customers or make decisions, liability tracks to the organisation – courts and regulators are beginning to treat output as corporate speech and corporate actions.
Independent consulting and industry analyses converge on the same conclusion: while the technology is transformative, return on investment will be uneven without strong governance and board-level oversight.
What directors should ask management now:
Where are we piloting or planning agentic systems, and what business outcomes do we expect?
What human approvals, escalation paths, or “kill switches” exist for autonomous actions?
Who is accountable for model risk, data integrity and transparency – and how will outcomes be reported to the board?
How are we ensuring the AI cannot be misled, misused, or allowed to act beyond its mandate?
What incident response plan do we have if an agent acts unexpectedly, and who communicates with customers or regulators?
How boards can prepare
Boards should require a clear, high-level inventory of where Agentic AI is used and why, supported by quarterly strategic reporting on value generated, risks observed, incidents, and mitigation actions. Management should implement three lines of defence: internal technical controls, independent assurance, and board oversight with clear KPIs.
Organisations must embed guardrails: strict access controls, immutable logs of agent actions, a human-in-the-loop for material or irreversible decisions, and a tested enterprise-wide kill switch. Procurement and vendor contracts must clearly assign accountability for safety, auditability, and regulatory compliance.
Adoption should be conditioned on defined autonomy thresholds, mandatory approval for high-impact actions, continuous anomaly monitoring, and regular failure simulations. These controls protect customers, operations, and shareholder value.
Agentic AI represents both a step-change opportunity and a new class of enterprise risk. Boards that move early, demanding clarity, accountability, and tested safeguards, position their organisations for operational agility and competitive advantage. Without them, the risk is no longer theoretical. It is material and enduring.
As companies prepare for 2026, the question is no longer whether agentic AI matters. It is whether leadership is shaping its use responsibly and whether the board is ready to govern it.
Amaka Ibeji, Founder of DPO Africa Network, is a Boardroom Qualified Technology Expert and Digital Trust Visionary. She advises boards, regulators, and organisations on privacy, AI governance, and data trust, while coaching and fostering leadership across industries. Connect: LinkedIn amakai | [email protected]
Source: Businessday.ng | Read the Full Story…
