Microsoft: How Agentic AI Can See the UK to AI Supremacy
With geopolitical tensions intensifying across the world, the technology sector is having to navigate its way through a turbulent time whilst rapidly accelerating digital transformation.
The UK in particular has upped its game through its AI Action Plan, challenging the long-time leaders of China and the US – but in the race for AI supremacy, key foundation blocks are being neglected.
Despite the UK’s ambitious AI plans, Microsoft has conducted new research and identified a growing 'AI divide' across UK organisations that will stunt economic growth and public service improvements if not addressed.
The study: Agents of Change, conducted by Dr Chris Brauer at Goldsmiths, University of London and commissioned by Microsoft, examines AI readiness across UK sectors – and it also outlines a way through the trees with a roadmap for how the UK can achieve AI supremacy.
Key challenges preventing the UK’s AI success
The research, which surveyed 1,480 UK senior leaders and 1,440 employees across public and private sectors, found that 54% of organisations still lack any formal AI strategy.
Whilst the highest performing businesses demonstrate clear AI strategies and preparation for agentic AI – systems that can act autonomously on behalf of users – many organisations remain unprepared.
- Only 18% of workers have received training on how to use AI in their job
- 57% of UK leaders report a productivity gap between employees who use AI and those who do not
- 36% of UK leaders and 25% of employees feel they currently do the job of at least two people
- 46% of UK leaders say their organisation has a formal AI strategy in place – insufficient for the UK to maximise agentic AI potential
- 51% of UK leaders surveyed say their organisation wants to harness AI's competitive advantage but is not yet ready to do so
Microsoft found that only 45% of organisations understand the AI skills their workforce needs to succeed, with half describing a gap between AI ambition and implementation.
This divide extends to the workforce itself, with 57% of leaders reporting a widening efficiency gap between employees who use AI and those who do not.
More notably, 36% of leaders indicate that frequent AI users are more likely to receive recognition or promotion.
At Microsoft’s AI Tour in London, Judson Althoff, Executive Vice President and Chief Commercial Officer at Microsoft emphasised how despite the fear culture surrounding AI adoption, it’s increasing customer and employee experience once used correctly.
He says: “Customer satisfaction is going up and employee satisfaction is going up.
“Employee satisfaction is going up because we are making their lives easier and we’re helping them nurture their career paths.”
Microsoft’s agentic AI solutions to unlock employee potential: the key to AI acceleration
Microsoft’s findings emerge during a period of intense workplace pressure.
As digital transformation accelerates across the world, so does the expectation of employees – yet a key challenge being unaddressed is the crucial training and empowerment employees need to integrate AI into their work practices.
Microsoft found more than half of UK employees (52%) and leaders (60%) report being expected to perform beyond a single person's workload capacity.
Additionally, for 36% of leaders and 25% of employees, current workloads equate to performing two full-time roles simultaneously.
This pressure has created demand for agentic AI technologies – virtual tools ranging from information-retrieving chatbots to fully autonomous systems that learn and operate with minimal human input.
Tackling this challenge, Microsoft unveiled yesterday at its Microsoft AI Tour, two new AI agents: Sales Agent and Chat Agent, designed specifically for sales representatives to drastically reduce the 70% of time they spend on non-sales tasks – so they can close more deals, faster, whilst increasing revenue.
Furthermore, despite the relative newness of this technology, the study found that 72% of leaders expect AI agents to be fully integrated across their operations, with 21% anticipating this within 12 months and 39% within two years.
Darren Hardman, CEO of Microsoft UK, says: “Agentic AI can play a key role in removing digital drudgery, giving workers the opportunity to spend more time on creative and value adding tasks.
“If the UK’s AI journey so far has been transformative, the coming wave of agentic AI is set to be truly revolutionary.”
Peter Kyle, Secretary of State adds when discussing the UK’s AI Action Plan: “Agents will play a key role in this transformation, enabling organisations to work smarter, not harder.
“With over half of business leaders seeing a growing productivity gap between AI users and those yet to harness the technology, accelerating adoption is crucial.”
Microsoft's blueprint for agentic AI success
Microsoft’s report offers a practical blueprint for organisations at different stages of AI readiness, categorising AI capabilities into three types:
Retrieval actions
Systems that fetch information from data sources and respond to user questions, such as bank chatbots that access account information.
Task actions
Tools that automate workflows when triggered by a person or event, like HR workflow managers that handle employee onboarding processes.
Autonomous actions
Advanced systems that operate independently to plan, learn and coordinate other AI tools, exemplified by supply chain managers that adjust to weather events and notify stakeholders.
Dr Chris Brauer, Director of Innovation at Goldsmiths, University of London, says: “Every organisation's AI journey is unique,” yet “Agentic AI has the potential to revolutionise operations, increase resilience and free employees from many routine tasks – if organisations are front footed.”
The blueprint then recommends a three-stage approach to this implementation:
- Exploring and experimentation
- Integration and scaling
- Continuous improvement and innovation
Throughout these phases, the report emphasises the importance of organisational culture, business strategy and responsible AI governance.
Satya Nadella, Chief Executive Officer of Microsoft, describes his vision: “You can build a very rich agentic world, defined by a tapestry of AI agents, which can act on our behalf across our work and life, across teams, business processes, as well as organisations.”
With these pillars in place and a focus on culture, strategy and governance, the research shows a direct correlation between AI strategy and both financial performance in businesses and productivity in public sector organisations.
However, with only 20% of organisations having scaled AI adoption to date, the UK risks becoming “stuck in neutral” without more widespread implementation.
UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer urges organisations to overcome hesitation: “We've got to challenge that mindset [of fear] because the far bigger risk is that if we don't go for it, we're left behind by those who do.
“AI is the way to secure growth to raise living standards, put money in people's pockets, create exciting new companies and transform our public services.”
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