San Francisco’s recent VB Transform event was buzzing—not with the abstract promise of artificial intelligence, but with stories about how AI agents are already at work inside some of the world’s biggest enterprises. On stage, Ashok Srivastava, Chief Data Officer at Intuit, and Hillary Packer, CTO at American Express, pulled back the curtain on what happens when these technologies move out of the lab and into the core of real businesses.
Neither Intuit nor American Express is sitting on the AI sidelines, cautiously weighing technologies before making a move. They’ve both jumped right in, showing a bias for action. Their approach? Build quickly and iterate even faster. The idea of waiting around for “perfect” combinations of technologies doesn’t appeal to them, especially when their early AI agents are already being woven into daily operations and delivering clear benefits.
For Intuit, AI agents have fundamentally changed what’s possible in customer service and financial guidance. Instead of fielding the same basic tax or accounting questions over and over, their AI can now walk users through complex tasks. That means customers get answers faster, and Intuit’s human experts get to spend their time on the thornier, more rewarding issues. It’s a win for both efficiency and job satisfaction—AI takes on the repetitive heavy lifting, humans focus on higher value help.
Meanwhile, American Express is putting AI agents to work behind the scenes, making the company’s own decision-making nimbler and smarter. These agents can comb through mountains of data in real time, surfacing patterns and insights for internal teams. The result: day-to-day business decisions happen faster, and with more intelligence, than ever before. AI isn’t replacing people here—it’s all about giving teams tools that amplify their abilities.
Both Srivastava and Packer hammered home a crucial point: people remain at the center of all this change. The goal isn’t to swap humans for silicon, but to build a partnership—AI takes care of the routine, so people can do what only they can. As Packer put it onstage, “We’re not replacing people—we’re empowering them with tools that amplify their abilities.”
In many ways, what’s happening at Intuit and American Express looks like a preview of what’s coming to the rest of the business world. These companies aren’t just kicking tires; they’re showing how agentic AI can break new ground right now, not five years down the road. The takeaway is clear: the next leap in enterprise AI isn’t about hype—it’s about execution, and the future is already unfolding for those willing to lead.
You can dive deeper into the AI journeys of Intuit and American Express by reading the full article on VentureBeat.
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