As organizations continue to evolve in the digital age, the demand for smarter, more adaptive automation has never been greater. UiPath is at the forefront of this transition with its new agentic automation platform – an innovation that blends the cognitive power of agentic artificial intelligence (AI) with the structure of robotic process automation (RPA). Unlike traditional bots that follow strict workflows, UiPath’s agentic automation platform creates intelligent, adaptable, autonomous agents capable of performing specific tasks within an organization.
What is agentic AI?
Agentic AI builds upon the familiar concept of generative AI, known for its ability to create content based on descriptive prompts. While generative AI excels at producing text, images and other forms of content, agentic AI takes this a step further by enabling the creation of virtual personas. These digital assistants or agents can act autonomously within the ground rules provided.
These ground rules are defined using a prompt generator, which outlines the agent's role at a high level and provides example business rules for operation. These rules include the “Always” and “Nevers” – actions the agent must always perform and actions it must never allow to occur. Additionally, the context or data the agents are authorized to access is specified, enabling them to make informed decisions.
These agents also learn from their interactions and the feedback they receive, making them highly versatile and capable of handling a wide range of scenarios. This marks a transformative shift in how AI interacts with users and reshapes work.
What is the difference between a bot and an agent?
The difference between an RPA bot and an agentic AI agent lies in their level of autonomy and adaptability. Bots are deterministic, rule-based systems designed to automate highly repetitive, structured tasks. They mimic human actions, like clicking, typing or navigating screens, and follow strict “if-this-then-that” logic. RPA excels in environments where processes are stable and predictable. These bots do not learn or adapt – they execute predefined instructions and require human intervention any time an exception occurs.
Agentic AI agents, on the other hand, represent a more advanced, autonomous form of automation. Instead of mimicking actions, they mimic thoughts. These agents can understand natural language, make decisions and adapt to dynamic environments in real time. They use tools like prompt builders and context grounding to create personas – digital workers with specific roles and access to relevant data – to perform complex, multi-step tasks, learn from feedback and operate with minimal human oversight.
Put simply, agents think and bots act.
UiPath’s agentic agent at work: An accounts payable example use case
In a typical enterprise, the accounts payable (AP) team manages a centralized inbox that receives a high volume of vendor emails – ranging from invoice submissions to payment status inquiries. Traditionally, this inbox might be managed by a human AP clerk or could be partially supported by a rule-based RPA bot. However, RPA bots are deterministic – they follow rigid “if-this-then-that” logic and lack the flexibility to interpret nuanced request or adapt to unexpected scenarios. This deterministic limitation significantly increases the number of emails that get forwarded to the AP clerk for manual processing.
Using UiPath’s platform, a persona can be created for an accounts payable clerk through a natural language prompt builder. This defines the agent’s role and responsibilities – such as managing the AP inbox, responding to vendor inquiries and validating invoice data. It also sets the tone and behavior of the agent (i.e., email responses should be professional, neutral, concise, etc.), while user notes define strict “always” and “never” rules. For example, the agent can be instructed to never respond to an unrecognized vendor without buyer confirmation, and to always confirm receipt of a valid invoice that hasn’t been processed yet.
The second crucial element, context grounding, entails connecting the agent to internal systems such as the vendor master, invoice and purchase order tables, workflow audit logs, as well as relevant documents including company policies, previous emails and meeting notes. This integration enables the agent to fully understand the context of a vendor's inquiry.
Now, if a vendor sends an email asking about the status of an invoice they submitted six weeks ago, the agent doesn’t just treat it as a new invoice. Instead, it understands the intent behind the vendor’s message, checks the invoice workflow audit log to confirm the invoice was already received, and responds professionally with the current status. If the vendor is new and not yet in the system, the agent can detect this and scan internal correspondence to identify any ongoing project collaborators before alerting its human counterpart with contextual insights (i.e., “This vendor isn’t in the system, but it looks like John Smith has been collaborating with them. Would you like me to set them up as a vendor in the system and process their invoice?”).
This added context allows the human counterpart to make a faster, more informed decision without needing to dig through emails or project notes. If the human approves, the agent can then automatically initiate the vendor onboarding process by sending out the appropriate forms or links. This seamless handoff between the AI agent and its human counterpart, powered by real-time data access and contextual awareness, showcases the potential power of UiPath’s agentic AI agents not only to automate tasks, but to enhance decision-making and collaboration across teams.
How we can help
Agentic AI agents are more than just the next step in automation – it’s a workflow shift that empowers digital workers to think, adapt and collaborate. By leveraging UiPath’s agentic automation platform, organizations can unlock new levels of efficiency and agility across functions like finance, customer service and supply chain management. From managing complex inboxes to making context-aware decisions, these AI agents are transforming how work gets done.
At Baker Tilly, our digital solutions team helps organizations harness the full potential of intelligent automation – designing, deploying and scaling agentic solutions that align with your business goals.
Ready to take the leap into the future of work? Connect with one of our intelligent automation professionals to start building your agentic workforce today.
