Without APIs, agentic AI is all talk

Bill Doerrfeld | July 10, 2025

My latest for CIO.com explores why CIOs view APIs as vital for agentic AI success.


Without APIs, AI is mostly just conversational. As in, you prompt it, and it spits back an answer. However, tomorrow's AI agents will integrate with external APIs to perform actual, real-world actions.


As a bridge out of isolated AI systems, APIs are beginning to make agents more actionable in healthcare, insurance, logistics, customer service, and beyond.


Check out the piece for a roundup of the possibilities, as well as what's required to make them real: ironing out interoperability barriers, adopting emerging standards, enforcing security guardrails, and more.


As Rory Blundell from Gravitee puts it: "APIs are the lifeblood of agentic AI. Without API access, agents remain observers rather than doers."


Featured image credit: Han Han on Unsplash


Read: Why CIOs see APIs as vital for agentic AI success
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