In this episode, Robin Merttens is joined by Dr Thomas Kuhnt (HDI Global SE), Ed Ackerman (Qover) and Vincent De Ponthaud (AXA) for a rare C-suite perspective on Agentic AI — what it is, how it's being deployed and why senior leaders are walking a tightrope between bold innovation and operational risk.

Agentic AI promises transformative value, but for decision-makers at the top, it also brings real uncertainty. What do you build vs. buy? How do you prove ROI? And how do you prevent over-trusting agents that are inherently probabilistic?

In this conversation, Thomas, Ed and Vincent share:

Why Agentic AI is different from past tech trends and why this one feels real
The cultural and leadership challenge of balancing excitement with governance
How AXA and HDI are enabling safe experimentation at scale across complex organisations
How Qover is building 20+ AI agents to automate claims micro-tasks — and when they build vs. buy
What customers really think about AI agents and why nearly none opt out
The risks of shadow AI and why IT needs to move faster than ever
Why “human in the loop” is flawed and how user trust in AI could become a blind spot
What’s missing: industry standards, agent evaluation tools and new roles like “agent managers”
The case for cautious iteration, deep collaboration and constant re-evaluation

Where is the industry today? - a view from the C-suite (387)