Shaping sustainable pathways for agentic AI integration

In her latest research, Dr. Xiahua Wei, associate professor of Economics, explores the risks and opportunities of agentic AI. Agentic AI is one form of AI technology in which AI agents act autonomously, making decisions and acting unprompted.

Wei’s research into this aspect of AI technology stems from her former research into the bias in generative AI, leading to unfair and discriminatory practices in workplaces. But Wei’s research isn’t focused on whether or not these developing technologies should be used, her focus is on how they should be used.

“Agentic AI is not just a technical improvement or transformation, it also presents us with a challenge in terms of oversight, privacy and ethics,” she said. “So, for the agent that is able to orchestrate its own workflow and act autonomously, how much trust do we place in it, and what kind of governance are we going to put in place?”

Published in the April 2026 Information & Management Journal, Wei and her co-authors propose an “agentic AI tradeoff framework” to aid shaping pathways for integrating the technology. Read the full story in UW Bothell’s blog, “Agentic AI: risk versus opportunity.”