The Ultimate Guide to AI Agents
A curated Kiwi edition of TechDay news, analysis, interviews, reviews, job moves, and related resources for AI Agents (Agentic AI).
What to know about AI Agents
AI agents represent a transformative area within artificial intelligence, focusing on autonomous or semi-autonomous systems capable of performing complex tasks and making decisions to enhance business operations and personal productivity.
Our recent stories highlight how AI agents are rapidly evolving across sectors—from cybersecurity and data management to customer experience and enterprise automation. Companies are integrating AI agents to improve efficiency, drive innovation, and manage security risks in increasingly sophisticated ways.
By exploring these developments, readers can gain insights into the potential benefits, emerging applications, and challenges associated with AI agent deployment. Whether you're interested in how AI agents enhance software development, automate workflows, or secure enterprise environments, this tag offers a comprehensive look at this dynamic and impactful technology.
Kiwi AI Agents News
Regional stories with direct local relevance
Halter's Clank AI cuts engineering time in farm tech
Farming customers could see faster fixes as the system now handles alert triage and code changes, saving more than 215 engineering hours.
New Zealand firms split on AI as strategy gap widens
Only 15% of New Zealand businesses have an AI strategy, leaving most unable to measure returns or prepare for the next wave of tools.
Explainer: Why is everyone talking about AI and the end of the world?
Calls for tighter AI safeguards have intensified after warnings the technology could outpace human control and threaten jobs, security and markets.
AI extinction is only one way the future is frightening
Fears are mounting that unchecked AI could unleash cyberattacks, market shocks and job losses long before any extinction event.
OpenAI says Kiwis use ChatGPT to save hours weekly
New Zealand users are saving hours a week with ChatGPT, as the tool is used for work, budgets, health checks and trip planning.
HEB Construction automates tender CVs with Boomi AI
Tender teams at HEB Construction now save hours per bid after AI turned scattered staff records into tailored CVs and bios.
Analyst Insights
Research and market analysis connected to AI Agents
Komodor launches agentic operations platform for SRE
Boomi named leader in Forrester adaptive orchestration
Omnissa appoints Amit Singh as Chief Executive Officer
Iron Mountain wins first-time analyst nods for InSight DXP
Gartner forecasts AI strain on services, costs & jobs
Featured News
Interview: Cloudera says AI agents reshape zero trust
Enterprises must update identity controls as software agents generate more requests and need tightly time-limited access to sensitive systems.
Zscaler takes zero trust beyond the corporate network
Critical infrastructure operators are using cellular links to secure distributed assets as outages and spoofing raise the stakes for resilience.
Workiva: The secret compliance and reporting arms race
Driven by improved tooling, finance teams are meeting higher standards as regulators and analysts scrutinise disclosures faster.
Filigran: Does your CISO know enough?
CISOs are under pressure to answer boardroom questions on exposure in minutes, as Filigran pushes CTEM and open-source validation tools.
Exclusive: ABBYY says AI build costs will drive buying
Enterprises could cut AI spend by up to 80% by shifting document workflows away from custom builds and into standard platforms.
Exclusive: ABBYY brings zero-shot document AI to Vantage
Enterprises can now extract data from unseen document types without templates, as ABBYY rolls out zero-shot capabilities in Vantage.
Interview: Cloudera bets on hybrid AI growth in JAPAC
Banks and large enterprises in Asia-Pacific are rethinking cloud-first AI plans as costs, sovereignty and regulation favour hybrid deployments.
AI transforms CX to go beyond the chatbot
Consumers now expect faster, more automated support as AI agents handle complex customer journeys, though many firms still struggle to prove ROI.
Open source is powering the next generation of frontier AI
Rising inference demand and custom hardware needs are pushing AI infrastructure beyond standard cloud setups, boosting open source tools.
Governance controls are crucial for AI adoption and modernisation
Trusted partners and tighter guardrails are becoming essential as AI agents expand the attack surface and put data sovereignty on the line.
Exclusive: Cloudera builds Hadoop-free future platform
Existing customers get six years of support as Cloudera shifts new AI and analytics workloads to a Hadoop-free platform due in November.
Mimecast CEO: Agentic AI threat novel but not entirely new
Hidden AI risks are already widespread in workplaces, with Mimecast saying users are driving shadow tools and most exposure still starts with people.
Rimini Street offers AI magic without the forced ERP migration
CIOs can keep existing ERP systems and still adopt agentic AI, as Rimini Street pitches a cheaper path away from vendor-led migrations.
Customers at the centre of Adobe's new AI evangelist role
Adobe is using the post to help customers navigate AI adoption while feeding regional priorities back into its global product strategy.
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Apple's Unified Memory powers Kiraa AI's rapid automation
Australian firms can speed month-end processing from days to an hour by running Kiraa AI on Macs instead of costly cloud servers.
Jamf launches AI Governance to enhance visibility, security
IT teams can now track AI models on Apple fleets to curb data leaks and token spend as businesses wrestle with shadow AI.
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AI models expose new attack surfaces through misconfiguration
Misconfigured models are giving attackers a fresh route into cloud systems, raising the risk of data theft and service compromise.
Zendesk's outcome-based pricing balances AI with human touch
Businesses will pay only for closed support cases under Zendesk's new model, as the software group ties AI automation to human fallback.
AI will fade, says Dell Technologies' ephemeral Chief AI Officer
Dell says agentic AI should shift routine tasks below the machine line, freeing staff for expert work while making the role temporary.
Schrodinger's ERP both dead and alive, says Rimini Street
Businesses can avoid costly ERP rip-and-replace projects by layering AI and automation onto existing systems, Rimini Street says.
ClickHouse customer base soars on back of AI demand
AI agents are driving a sharp rise in demand for the real-time data platform, which added 1000 customers early in 2026 to top 4000.
Fresh perspective: New Gentrack CTO on AI-driven utility future
AI tools could cut utility costs and reduce customer friction as Gentrack's new Chief Technology Officer pushes a more proactive service model.
Check Point CTO on AI's double-edged sword
AI is shrinking the gap between vulnerability disclosure and real-world exploitation to hours, forcing security teams to adapt fast.
Check Point: Be the best, or get out the way
Rising AI-driven attacks are compel security buyers to cut vendor sprawl, though Check Point warns over-consolidation can still raise risk.
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Check Point: Hackers are already in. Act accordingly
Hackers are exploiting vulnerabilities in hours or minutes, leaving many organisations compromised before defenders spot the breach.
Future of enterprise software is agentic apps, says Oracle
Oracle is targeting a common blocker to AI adoption by adding governance, human checks and audit trails to its agentic app builder.
John Margerison on the new class of employee: AI managers
Businesses should treat AI like a new hire, as weak oversight could expose sensitive data and leave staff needing fresh skills to stay relevant.
Agentic AI creates enterprise challenge beyond LLM boom
Enterprises face rising costs and governance gaps as thousands of AI agents begin operating alongside staff across multiple systems.
Reviews
Expert Columns
The next eCommerce interface may not be a screen
In the AI era, channel value is being redefined
Stop saying AI hacked the system
AGI is coming. The future of work isn't ready
The data center math has changed
Why trusted 'Customer Context' is critical in the agentic AI era
The Next E-commerce Interface May Not Be a Screen
5 takeaways for tech leaders at the CIO Innovation Summit 2026
The autonomous SOC takeover
How security leaders should measure AI SOC performance
Interviews
Interviews and video coverage from the networkRecent AI Agents News
A10 launches AI Gateway to control model use & cost
Organisations using several AI models will get spending, access and policy controls in one place, as use of generative tools spreads across departments.
Salesforce adopts Legora to boost legal AI workflow
The rollout could speed research and drafting for in-house lawyers while easing pressure from rising regulation and contract volumes.
Quest expands identity security for AI agent threats
The update is aimed at speeding recovery and containing breaches as AI agents gain access to corporate identity systems.
Komprise launches Universal File MCP for AI data access
The new software aims to curb token waste and improve answer quality as enterprises connect AI models to sprawling, unstructured file stores.
Lucius AI cuts tender search times with Google AlloyDB
Tender-bidding businesses could see faster results as Lucius AI says its move to AlloyDB cut semantic search latency from 1.14 seconds to 24 milliseconds.
Ascerta raises USD $18 million in Series A funding
The fresh cash will help the Bellevue-based software maker expand its platform as enterprises demand clearer proof that AI projects deliver business value.
Acceldata launches xFactory for governed private AI
Large enterprises can now build governed AI on fragmented data without moving it, as Acceldata targets regulated sectors with xFactory.
HiBob launches Galileo-powered workforce intelligence
The new tools could help HR teams make tighter pay, role and review decisions using company data and specialist guidance, as rollout begins in 2026.
Australian firms struggle to enforce AI data rules
Nearly all surveyed organisations in Australia had an AI tool accessing sensitive data beyond its remit, exposing weak real-time controls.
OpenAI unveils 20 updates with new agents & GPT-6.1
Businesses may pay less for advanced AI as OpenAI bundles cheaper access, always-on agents and a shared workspace into ChatGPT.
HP warns of AI lures & QR phishing targeting crypto
Fake AI trading tools and QR code lures are helping hackers steal crypto logins and dodge desktop security controls.
Commerce launches AI tools to boost product discovery
Merchants could gain more visibility in AI search and recommendation results as Commerce's new enrichment tools restructure catalogue data for machines.
Okta adds controls for AI agents amid security push
The controls aim to help firms spot risky agent behaviour, cut off access quickly and reduce lingering credentials as AI use grows.
Upsun launches Dispatch to govern AI software workflows
Firms using AI to code may get tighter oversight, as the platform logs approvals, prompts and spending inside shared workflows.
Quorum Cyber to acquire Ontinue in Microsoft security deal
The merger is set to give Microsoft customers broader AI-led threat detection, response and recovery support across North America, the UK and DACH.
Smarsh adds AI tools for governed communications data
Regulated firms could search and export archived messages through AI while keeping existing permissions, audit logs and chain-of-custody controls.
eSentire acquires AI security startup for Atlas AIDR
Security teams are gaining real-time audit trails and controls as eSentire folds the stealth startup's AI monitoring module into Atlas.
Archive360 partners Caju AI on digital message governance
Regulated firms face recordkeeping gaps as WhatsApp and Slack chats join email under one governance and discovery framework.
Check Point & NVIDIA add real-time AI agent safeguards
Firms deploying AI agents may gain extra protection as the new setup can block risky actions before they reach systems, in under 100 milliseconds.
Eve Security raises USD $7.5 million for AI agent tools
Growing concern over autonomous AI systems has helped the Austin-based startup secure fresh backing to expand sales and revenue growth.
