> Markdown version of [/events/world-congress-2026-north-america/sessions/1878-rise-of-the-agents](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/events/world-congress-2026-north-america/sessions/1878-rise-of-the-agents). Every page supports `.md` or `Accept: text/markdown`. Links point to the HTML versions so they work for humans too. Agent guide: [/agents.md](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/agents.md).

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# Rise of the Agents: What’s Real, What’s Next, and What Matters


- **Date:** Thursday, Sep 24, 2026
- **Time:** 11:40–12:10 (30 min)
- **Room:** Stage 1
- **Event:** World Congress 2026 North America

## Description

This panel explores the shift from passive AI assistants to autonomous agents capable of complex reasoning, planning, and task execution. While the promise of agentic workflows is immense, organizations face real-world challenges in reliability, safety, governance, and system orchestration. Experts will separate current capabilities from marketing hype, outlining where autonomous agents are generating measurable impact today. Panelists will examine the architectural breakthroughs driving the next wave of autonomy, including multi-agent collaboration, tool integration, and persistent memory. Attendees will gain insights into how businesses are moving from pilots to production while managing risk in agent-driven ecosystems. Finally, the discussion will map out what lies ahead for leaders navigating the transition to an agentic future.

## Speaker

### [Mitesh Patel](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/@mitesh-patel)

NVIDIA Corporation, Developer Advocate -- Manager


## Related talks at this congress

- [Closing the Visibility Gap: Lessons from Safety Critical Agentic Systems](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/events/world-congress-2026-north-america/sessions/1408-closing-the) — Vivek Pandit
- [When Agents Became Users: Rearchitecting Identity and Permissions for AI at Scale](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/events/world-congress-2026-north-america/sessions/1713-when-agents-became) — Yoav Gal, Dor Cohen
- [AI Agents are Only as Smart as their Context: Building a Real-Time Context Engine at Intuit](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/events/world-congress-2026-north-america/sessions/1736-ai-agents-are-only) — Bharat Patel
- [Building AI Products vs. Building With AI](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/events/world-congress-2026-north-america/sessions/1841-building-ai-products) — Aparna Dhinakaran, Rukmini Reddy, Tamar Bercovici

## Watch remotely

Can’t make it to San José? Watch this session live with Pro. You also get:

- All full videos, bookmarks, and playlists
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[See pricing](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/pricing)

## Links

- [Get tickets](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/world-congress-north-america/tickets)