The Ultimate Guide to AI Agents
A curated Australian edition of IndustrialDay news, analysis, interviews, reviews, job moves, and related resources for AI Agents (Agentic AI).
What to know about AI Agents
AI agents represent a transformative area within artificial intelligence, focusing on autonomous or semi-autonomous systems capable of performing complex tasks and making decisions to enhance business operations and personal productivity.
Our recent stories highlight how AI agents are rapidly evolving across sectors—from cybersecurity and data management to customer experience and enterprise automation. Companies are integrating AI agents to improve efficiency, drive innovation, and manage security risks in increasingly sophisticated ways.
By exploring these developments, readers can gain insights into the potential benefits, emerging applications, and challenges associated with AI agent deployment. Whether you're interested in how AI agents enhance software development, automate workflows, or secure enterprise environments, this tag offers a comprehensive look at this dynamic and impactful technology.
Australian AI Agents News
Regional stories with direct local relevance
Atlassian launches Jira tools for agentic software teams
Paid Jira customers will get tighter controls and better measurement of AI agents as Atlassian widens software teams' access to shared project context.
OpenAI Breaches Australian Government Database
Weak controls left Australia's Medicare database exposed after an AI agent was able to press past access restrictions, experts say.
The Key AI Test Is Ensuring Regulation Keeps Pace With Ambition
Australia's AI rules may decide whether businesses gain protection without extra red tape that slows deployment and pushes investment offshore.
Experts urge tighter AI controls after Medicare breach
The reported incident has heightened fears that autonomous AI agents could probe critical systems faster than governments can contain them.
AI agent's Medicare breach warns of machine-speed risk
The incident has prompted warnings that autonomous AI can now probe government defences at machine speed, exposing gaps in oversight and resilience.
HeadFirst Global rebrands as Vertage in AUD $16bn push
Customers will keep existing contracts unchanged until 2027 as the new Vertage name rolls out across 11 workforce businesses.
Analyst Insights
Research and market analysis connected to AI Agents
Certinia expands Veda AI for professional services
Avalara launches Aviator AI hub for tax compliance
Netskope launches control to block risky AI agent actions
Cloudera named leader in Asia Pacific sovereign AI
Okta-led alliance unveils blueprint for AI agent security
Featured News
Zscaler takes zero trust beyond the corporate network
Critical infrastructure operators are using cellular links to secure distributed assets as outages and spoofing raise the stakes for resilience.
Workiva: The secret compliance and reporting arms race
Driven by improved tooling, finance teams are meeting higher standards as regulators and analysts scrutinise disclosures faster.
AI transforming B2B discovery - but human trust endures
AI is changing how B2B buyers make decisions - but an expert warns that it is not a substitute for effective human comms strategies.
Databricks AI helping telcos prevent churn, predict fraud
By linking customer, network and operational data, telcos can spot churn and fraud sooner, while also speeding service and support decisions.
Filigran: Does your CISO know enough?
CISOs are under pressure to answer boardroom questions on exposure in minutes, as Filigran pushes CTEM and open-source validation tools.
Exclusive: ABBYY says AI build costs will drive buying
Enterprises could cut AI spend by up to 80% by shifting document workflows away from custom builds and into standard platforms.
Exclusive: ABBYY brings zero-shot document AI to Vantage
Enterprises can now extract data from unseen document types without templates, as ABBYY rolls out zero-shot capabilities in Vantage.
Interview: Cloudera bets on hybrid AI growth in JAPAC
Banks and large enterprises in Asia-Pacific are rethinking cloud-first AI plans as costs, sovereignty and regulation favour hybrid deployments.
Confluent: Data architecture gap impairing AI ambitions
Older systems may leave Australian firms unable to meet CDR demands, while modern data architecture is becoming crucial for real-time AI use.
Confluent: Stale, unreliable data could impair enterprise AI
Fresh data and tighter controls are becoming critical as businesses push AI into production, with weak lineage and quality seen as a major risk.
AI transforms CX to go beyond the chatbot
Consumers now expect faster, more automated support as AI agents handle complex customer journeys, though many firms still struggle to prove ROI.
Open source is powering the next generation of frontier AI
Rising inference demand and custom hardware needs are pushing AI infrastructure beyond standard cloud setups, boosting open source tools.
Governance controls are crucial for AI adoption and modernisation
Trusted partners and tighter guardrails are becoming essential as AI agents expand the attack surface and put data sovereignty on the line.
Exclusive: Cloudera builds Hadoop-free future platform
Existing customers get six years of support as Cloudera shifts new AI and analytics workloads to a Hadoop-free platform due in November.
Mimecast CEO: Agentic AI threat novel but not entirely new
Hidden AI risks are already widespread in workplaces, with Mimecast saying users are driving shadow tools and most exposure still starts with people.
Interactive customers win, as AI expands into service operations
AI is cutting manual triage in Interactive's cloud operations, where 40,000 device alerts a year now generate tickets and suggested fixes automatically.
Big AI moves at Lendi Group, brokers and customers benefit
More deals and faster lender integrations are expected as Lendi shifts its mortgage platform towards agentic AI for 1,300 brokers.
Rimini Street offers AI magic without the forced ERP migration
CIOs can keep existing ERP systems and still adopt agentic AI, as Rimini Street pitches a cheaper path away from vendor-led migrations.
Customers at the centre of Adobe's new AI evangelist role
Adobe is using the post to help customers navigate AI adoption while feeding regional priorities back into its global product strategy.
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Apple's Unified Memory powers Kiraa AI's rapid automation
Australian firms can speed month-end processing from days to an hour by running Kiraa AI on Macs instead of costly cloud servers.
Jamf launches AI Governance to enhance visibility, security
IT teams can now track AI models on Apple fleets to curb data leaks and token spend as businesses wrestle with shadow AI.
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AI models expose new attack surfaces through misconfiguration
Misconfigured models are giving attackers a fresh route into cloud systems, raising the risk of data theft and service compromise.
Zendesk's outcome-based pricing balances AI with human touch
Businesses will pay only for closed support cases under Zendesk's new model, as the software group ties AI automation to human fallback.
AI will fade, says Dell Technologies' ephemeral Chief AI Officer
Dell says agentic AI should shift routine tasks below the machine line, freeing staff for expert work while making the role temporary.
Schrodinger's ERP both dead and alive, says Rimini Street
Businesses can avoid costly ERP rip-and-replace projects by layering AI and automation onto existing systems, Rimini Street says.
ClickHouse customer base soars on back of AI demand
AI agents are driving a sharp rise in demand for the real-time data platform, which added 1000 customers early in 2026 to top 4000.
Cloudflare: Non-human traffic may reshape publishing models
Publishers may be pushed towards licensing deals and micro-payments as AI crawlers consume content without sending traffic back.
Autonomous IT boom fuelling LogicMonitor's APAC growth
APAC customers are fuelling LogicMonitor's AI growth, with Australia among the earliest adopters of its Edwin AI platform.
Ingram Micro's Great Migration promises security and productivity boost
One million ageing Windows 10 PCs are set for replacement as Ingram Micro and Microsoft push AI-ready devices to cut security risks and cloud costs.
CrowdStrike report: AI is rewriting rules of cybersecurity
Organisations now have just 48 hours to patch most flaws, as AI helps attackers weaponise vulnerabilities far faster than before.
Fresh perspective: New Gentrack CTO on AI-driven utility future
AI tools could cut utility costs and reduce customer friction as Gentrack's new Chief Technology Officer pushes a more proactive service model.
AI arms race forcing businesses to rethink cybersecurity
Security teams are racing to shrink exposure windows as AI makes newly disclosed vulnerabilities exploitable almost immediately.
Check Point CTO on AI's double-edged sword
AI is shrinking the gap between vulnerability disclosure and real-world exploitation to hours, forcing security teams to adapt fast.
Check Point: Be the best, or get out the way
Rising AI-driven attacks are compel security buyers to cut vendor sprawl, though Check Point warns over-consolidation can still raise risk.
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Check Point: Hackers are already in. Act accordingly
Hackers are exploiting vulnerabilities in hours or minutes, leaving many organisations compromised before defenders spot the breach.
Future of enterprise software is agentic apps, says Oracle
Oracle is targeting a common blocker to AI adoption by adding governance, human checks and audit trails to its agentic app builder.
Agentic rollout creates new identity security challenge
Poor governance is leaving many AI agents stuck out of production, while those that run can expose firms to legal and security risks.
John Margerison on the new class of employee: AI managers
Businesses should treat AI like a new hire, as weak oversight could expose sensitive data and leave staff needing fresh skills to stay relevant.
Agentic AI creates enterprise challenge beyond LLM boom
Enterprises face rising costs and governance gaps as thousands of AI agents begin operating alongside staff across multiple systems.
Visa strengthens AI defences amid new era of cyber threats
Visa is pouring billions into AI defences as regulators demand safer, auditable systems to counter faster cyber threats and fraud.
AI reshaping cybersecurity - on defence and attack
Criminals are using AI to scale phishing and hunt flaws faster, forcing firms to harden defences as alert volumes and risks rise.
Marketers turn to AI as personalisation revolution arrives
Australian marketers are turning to agentic AI to keep pace with fragmented customer journeys and rising demand for personalised content.
The new workforce: AI agents to work in concert with humans
AI agents are set to reshape hiring and team structures, pushing firms towards global talent pools and outcome-based work.
Reviews
Expert Columns
OpenAI Breaches Australian Government Database
The Key AI Test Is Ensuring Regulation Keeps Pace With Ambition
AGI is coming. The future of work isn't ready
The data center math has changed
Why trusted 'Customer Context' is critical in the agentic AI era
The Next E-commerce Interface May Not Be a Screen
The autonomous SOC takeover
How security leaders should measure AI SOC performance
The AI honeymoon is over. Now businesses must make it work
Three Industries, One Common Challenge: Getting Data Right Before MDM
Interviews
Interviews and video coverage from the networkRecent AI Agents News
Vection Technologies posts record FY26 profit on AI growth
The shift to enterprise AI has lifted Vection to its first full-year operating cash flow and a stronger pipeline worth more than AUD $10.6 million.
Databricks buys Row Zero to add live spreadsheets to Genie
The deal keeps finance and operations teams in governed data as Databricks adds a spreadsheet layer to reduce risky file exports.
RDC.AI targets North America with banking software
Banks are broadening use of RDC.AI's software as the Australian-founded group reports more than 120 per cent growth in existing customers.
Citrix adds AI browser session insights for agents
Security teams can now trace risky browser activity by staff and AI agents, as Citrix adds visual session records and policy guidance.
Ropes & Gray teams with OpenAI on due diligence AI
Deal teams could get issue-level diligence reports in hours as the law firm builds an OpenAI-powered tool for review under tight deadlines.
Ropes & Gray develops OpenAI tool for deal diligence
Deal teams could get issue-level diligence reports in hours, as Ropes & Gray and OpenAI test AI that still requires lawyer oversight.
iPresence launches kubi 2.0 on Kickstarter globally
Crowdfunding will open access to a redesigned telepresence robot for schools, hospitals and offices, with donation-backed units for needy recipients.
Avalara launches AI tool for enterprise system links
Integration projects could be completed in days rather than weeks as specialised AI agents automate connector build and testing for Avalara customers.
Demain warns of AI persistence after Medicare breach
The breach highlights how AI agents can keep probing blocked systems, prompting calls for stronger defences around identities, networks and data.
HeadFirst rebrands as Vertage in staffing shake-up
Customers will keep existing contracts and delivery teams as the staffing group folds 11 brands into Vertage on a single platform.
Fastly launches AI controls as machine traffic surges
Machine-generated requests now account for more than half of Fastly's network traffic, intensifying pressure to govern AI costs and security.
Keepit tops USD $100 million ARR on AI Truth Cloud
The Danish cloud data protection group's nine-figure run underscores demand for independent backup as firms link AI adoption to data trust.
Bitdefender launches AI visibility & control for firms
Security teams can now spot unsanctioned AI use across Windows estates, as Bitdefender adds risk ranking and policy controls to GravityZone.
OpenAI hacked Medicare portal, Australia Prime Minister Anthony Albanese says
Australia has launched a taskforce after an AI agent accessed non-public Medicare files and other government data, Albanese said.
BlueVoyant launches Microsoft Defender XDR ISOC service
The service is aimed at firms that pay for Microsoft security tools but have yet to turn them into fully operational defences.
UiPath adds governance & data controls to AI platform
Enterprises adopting AI agents are getting tighter oversight and data boundaries as UiPath expands controls across automation, integration and deployment.
Rocket expands AI controls for mainframes in banks
Skills shortages and stricter oversight are pushing banks to seek safer AI tools for mainframes, with new controls aimed at keeping actions auditable.
Datadog launches tools to monitor & test user journeys
The new tools aim to help teams spot when customers fail to complete checkout, sign-in or onboarding, despite healthy system metrics.
UiPath adds AI agents to automate enterprise testing
Enterprise quality teams could cut manual testing as UiPath adds AI agents to run, explore and maintain tests across applications.
Regnology finds agentic AI gap in reporting adoption
Only 16% of firms have embedded AI in regulatory reporting, as governance and trust issues keep most projects in pilot stage.
Job Moves
Ledger appoints Oded Blatman as Chief Information Officer
Kablamo appoints Troy Bebee to lead Google Cloud push
CommBank appoints first Chief AI Scientist in Australia
Cloudwerx appoints Harsh Mishra to lead SA market expansion
Prophet strengthens AI team with key engineering hires
Prophet names Rachel Scott as Head of Marketing Science
VentureCrowd appoints Jesse Arundell to lead agentic AI drive
JAGGAER names first Chief Digital & AI Officer to boost platform
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