We’re three years into the AI boom, so it’s time to turn down the Jaws theme because AI isn’t “on its way” – it’s been here, made itself at home, and gone through several trend cycles. The latest one? Agentic AI.
Close followers of AI development know news coverage of agentic AI (or “AI agents” if you’re talking about individual functions) started picking up last year after Marc Benioff championed the term at Dreamforce 2024. As many a prediction post forecasted, it has become the industry trend this year.
But what does that mean for enterprise B2B marketers and founders right here, right now? And what other conversations are fizzing in the AI space this summer?
In this Mediascape, we analyze the extent of the agentic AI media trend and spend time exploring other trends to keep on your media radar.
Charting AI Coverage
Anecdotal evidence can only get a conversation so far – so we put trending terms to the test through an analysis of AI coverage (excluding press releases and earnings coverage) and the key terms associated with this broader topic. To understand the AI conversation this summer, we started with subjects we’ve seen headlining publications from The Wall Street Journal to The New Stack and the questions our clients bring to us every day.
From this, we felt most curious to chart these AI trends:
- ROI
- MCP and A2A
- Open source
- AGI
- Hype
- AI Washing
And of course, Agentic AI.
While we expected terms like “agentic” and “agent” to lead in mentions across AI coverage in the past few months, visualizing the data clarified how intensely the conversation spiked this year. Starting in 2025, likely with all those year-end predictions, conversations around agentic AI and AI agents spiked from moderate frontrunner to topic outlier in our trend line comparing these terms.
Key Messages Over Time, May 2024 – May 2025
Practically speaking, this means a few things for folks looking to break through with their AI stories.
Yes, reporters are covering agentic AI. A lot. This means you should keep a close eye on any agentic tools in your product pipeline and look for leaders in your organization who have thoughtful and distinct opinions on the topic.
Get ready for competition if you want to tell an agentic AI story. Once you have visibility into the agentic AI news and thinkers within your organization, it’s time to get pragmatic. For every story a reporter prints, they likely sort through dozens (sometimes even hundreds) of options. Take the time to ask questions about what makes your work and perspective distinct – Does your product solve a particularly difficult engineering problem? Has your research unlocked new ways of using agentic AI tools? What nuance can you and only you bring to wider agentic AI discussions?
This is what it takes to break through in a saturated conversation.
There’s (Always) More to the AI Story
Agentic is only part of the AI conversation. When we look beyond this conversation, we see close competition between other common terms heading into the summer months.
Responsible AI matters. As AI regulation continues to fluctuate globally, media may want to discuss how organizations define, design, and implement responsible AI. This may become even more important if the U.S. federal government freezes the developing patchwork of state-level regulations on the technology. People want to understand how organizations are building ethical, transparent AI. Consider sharing the way you approach this vital topic.
AI coverage is keen on open source. The term “open source” appeared the most frequently behind agentic and responsible in AI coverage. While this isn’t unexpected – open source tools like Anthropic’s MCP continue to make waves – it emphasizes the importance of the open source ecosystem to this technology. Explore the ways you engage with the open source AI ecosystem. If you’re doing something particularly active to nurture it, that might be a good topic for your next LinkedIn post.
Hype and ROI chart a similar course. What’s real and what’s hot air? It’s a great question to ask when many AI tools for business fail to make it beyond proof-of-concept. Keep these themes in mind if you want to talk about AI in business.
A Note of Caution – Consequences for AI Washing on the Horizon
This year, the DOJ charged a tech CEO for making false claims about AI in a company’s product. While the term “AI washing” has not yet reached the level of more popular topics, the theme is one to watch. Whether a new term catches on in the coming months or coverage solidifies the phrase AI washing, audiences are ready to level consequences against organizations that mislead or overstate their contributions to AI.
This will make transparency and specificity even more important in communication around AI technologies. Your audiences must understand your definitions of concepts like agentic AI, the tangible ways you implement these tools, and the exact ways they will benefit from it.
AI Summer Doldrums? Not Likely.
While we expect these key terms to continue yielding coverage in the coming months, industry experts know there isn’t really a “slow” season in AI or technology anymore. By the time fall rolls around, new topics will likely dominate headlines. The windows to enter the conversations relevant today may be temporary, so be prepared to act if a trending term aligns with the actions and values of your organization.
And how can we prepare for what’s next?
Be flexible, be adaptive, and always be curious to know what’s around the corner.