Agent Washing
A vendor relabelling an existing chatbot or automation tool as an AI agent without adding any new capability. The phrase was coined by industry analysts for products rebranded as agentic on the strength of the label alone.
What it means in practice
The workflow article reports an analyst forecast from June 2025, based on a poll of more than 3,400 organisations, that more than 40% of agentic AI projects would be cancelled by the end of 2027, and notes that the same analysts coined the phrase. It also points out that most business processes need a path written in advance, not an agent choosing its own.
How we use it
The article’s test for a decision is to ask the vendor to show one specific moment where the system chooses between valid options on the strength of context. For a deliberately fixed workflow, the honest answer can be that the path does not branch. What fails is a vendor who claims autonomy and cannot point to the choice being made. A chatbot is still the right tool when the job really is a conversation.
FAQ
Questions about Agent washing
What is Agent washing?
The workflow article defines it as a vendor relabelling an existing chatbot or automation tool as an AI agent without adding new capability. It reports an analyst estimate that only about 130 of the thousands of vendors claiming agentic AI were building something that deserved the name.
How do I spot Agent washing in a Demo?
Ask for behaviour, not a description. The workflow article's five tests ask what starts the system, where the result lands, where a decision is made, what happens when it goes wrong and what is recorded. A chatbot with extra steps stalls on at least two.
What it means for a Business
The label on a product says almost nothing about what it does. The defence is to ask for behaviour rather than a description: a live demonstration of a decision the system makes, and of what happens when a case goes wrong.
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