SAS is the latest company to go all-in on agentic AI, the latest evolution of AI models that strive to be more helpful and autonomous.

Agentic AI is built around the concept of AI agents that can be tasked with performing various functions in cooperation with, and even in place of, humans. Salesforce has been a major proponent of agentic AI, taking Microsoft’s Copilot and other traditional AI models to task for not delivering what users need.

SAS is now jumping on the agentic AI train, revealing its SAS Viya agentic AI platform.

Imagine a future where AI systems render decisions and take action with little to no human intervention. With the rapid advance of AI agents that future is nearly here. That’s why SAS is building the agentic AI future on its bedrock of responsible innovation. SAS® Intelligent Decisioning – available on industry-leading data and AI platform SAS® Viya® – empowers organizations to design, deploy and scale AI agents with balanced human and AI autonomy, embedded governance and explainability of decisions.

The company says its Viya framework is built upon three key pillars.

1. Decisioning. Applying a hybrid approach that combines the rigor of powerful deterministic analytics with the flexibility and reasoning of large language models (LLMs) enables customers to build AI agents that deliver precise and reliable outcomes, with the necessary business guardrails and rules required in regulated industries.
2. Human and AI balance. SAS enables organizations to determine the appropriate level of AI autonomy and human involvement for AI agents based on task complexity, risk, and business goals. AI agents can operate fully autonomously in routine, data-driven tasks while humans provide oversight, ethical judgment, and strategic direction.
3. Governance. SAS’ built-in governance framework enables customers to build AI agents that not only deliver accurate outcomes but also adhere to ethical standards, maintain data privacy, align with business values and stand up to regulatory scrutiny.

SAS said it plans to integrate “co-pilot productivity assistants into SAS Viya to help users work faster, smarter and with fewer manual steps, while staying grounded in enterprise logic.” The company says it plans to release domain-specific agents, help specific industries improve their productivity.

“SAS Viya builds agents that don’t just act – they decide with purpose, guided by analytics, business rules and adaptability and grounded by decades of SAS’ trusted governance,” said Marinela Profi, Global AI Market Strategy Lead at SAS. “SAS’ unified, governed, decision-first framework turns AI agents from a science experiment to a business differentiator.”

What Others Are Saying

SAS is already winning praise for its approach, with industry experts saying the company is striking the right balance between autonomy and ethical governance.

“SAS’ approach to agentic AI strikes the critical balance between autonomous decision-making and ethical governance,” said Nick Patience, Vice President and Practice Lead, Artificial Intelligence Software and Tools at The Futurum Group. “Its intelligent agents represent not just technological advancement but a pragmatic framework for responsible enterprise AI adoption – precisely what organizations need as they navigate this rapidly evolving landscape to gain a competitive advantage.”

“As organizations evolve toward open, interoperable AI ecosystems across multi-cloud and hybrid environments, trust and explainability in AI governance are emerging as key differentiators among tech vendors,” said Tiffany McCormick, Research Director, Digital Business Models and Monetization at IDC. “SAS is taking industry-leading steps to address the growing demand for agentic AI, with a clear commitment to ethical rigor and differentiated execution in AI decisioning.”