Many leaders can get agentic pilots rolling—but realizing ROI can mean activating thousands of AI agents enterprise-wide. Is your organization ready? “Agency isn’t a feature—it’s a transfer of decision rights,” says McKinsey Partner Rich Isenberg. “The question shifts from ‘Is the model accurate?’ to ‘Who’s accountable when the system acts?’” On this episode of The McKinsey Podcast, Isenberg joins Global Editorial Director Lucia Rahilly to explore how leaders can scale AI safely, mitigate risk for autonomous systems, and build the trust required to make innovation stick.

Theme music composed, performed, and produced by Joy Ngiaw.

Many leaders can get agentic pilots rolling&mdash;but realizing ROI can mean activating thousands of AI agents enterprise-wide. Is your organization ready? &ldquo;Agency isn&rsquo;t a feature&mdash;it&rsquo;s a transfer of decision rights,&rdquo; says McKinsey Partner <a href="https://www.mckinsey.com/our-people/rich-isenberg">Rich Isenberg</a>. &ldquo;The question shifts from &lsquo;Is the model accurate?&rsquo; to &lsquo;Who&rsquo;s accountable when the system acts?&rsquo;&rdquo; On this episode of <a href="https://www.mckinsey.com/featured-insights/mckinsey-podcast">The McKinsey Podcast</a>, Isenberg joins Global Editorial Director Lucia Rahilly to explore how leaders can scale AI safely, mitigate risk for autonomous systems, and build the trust required to make innovation stick.
Theme music composed, performed, and produced by Joy Ngiaw.

The McKinsey Podcast, our new flagship podcast series, takes you inside our global firm, and features conversations with experts on issues that matter most in business and management. McKinsey & Company is a management-consulting firm that helps businesses, governments, and not-for-profit organizations realize their most important goals. Topics covered in this series include strategy, technology, leadership, marketing, operations, organization, and the role of business in society.

The McKinsey Podcast features conversations with experts from global management-consulting firm McKinsey & Company, focusing on the issues that matter most in business and management.

The McKinsey Podcast

Our flagship series The McKinsey Podcast takes you inside our global firm, and features conversations with experts on issues that matter most in business and management. McKinsey & Company is a management-consulting firm that helps businesses, governments, and not-for-profit organizations realize their most important goals. Topics covered in this series include strategy, technology, leadership, marketing, operations, organization, and the role of business in society.

Our flagship series The McKinsey Podcast takes you inside our global firm, and features conversations with experts on issues that matter most in business and management. McKinsey &amp; Company is a management-consulting firm that helps businesses, governments, and not-for-profit organizations realize their most important goals. Topics covered in this series include strategy, technology, leadership, marketing, operations, organization, and the role of business in society.