AI agent examples: what real businesses are doing with them, and what went wrong

What counts as an AI agent

An AI agent is software that does more than answer a question. It takes steps for you: it books, looks up, changes or buys something. For a fuller definition, see What is agentic AI?. The examples below are grouped by the job the agent was given.

Answering the phone

Healthcare. Allina Health, a Minnesota health system, put a voice agent called "Alli" on its patient phone lines. Its vendor, SoundHound AI, says 80% of calls are now answered in 45 seconds or less without more staff. That is a vendor claim. [1] SoundHound's blog gives different figures: 23% better service levels and 48 seconds off average response time. [2] See Allina's phone agent.

Banking. Commonwealth Bank of Australia linked a review of 45 customer service roles to its AI "voice bot," iTnews reported. [3] About a month later, the bank reversed the cuts and apologised for an "error," and the union said call volumes had risen, ABC News reported. [4] See CBA's reversal.

Drive-thru ordering. Taco Bell's voice AI took orders at more than 500 U.S. drive-thrus, The Verge reported, citing the Wall Street Journal. [5] The BBC later reported the chain was rethinking it after one customer ordered 18,000 waters. [6] See Taco Bell's rethink.

Handling customer chat

Payments. Klarna's annual report says its AI handled 80% of customer service chats in 2025 and did work equal to more than 850 full-time agents, by the company's own estimate. The same filing shows customer service and operations expense rose 2%, to $207 million. [7] See Klarna's numbers.

Groceries. Woolworths' chatbot Olive drew complaints that it talked about its mother and claimed to be a real person, the BBC reported. Woolworths said it had "recently removed this particular scripting." [8] The grocer had announced plans to add agentic features to Olive using Google technology, iTnews reported. [9] See Woolworths' Olive.

Shopping for you

Meta's Muse agent can shop on a user's behalf. Twelve days after launch, Amazon began showing Muse users a popup that read: "Continued access by an unauthorized AI agent violates Amazon's Conditions of Use, to which our customers have agreed," GeekWire reported. [10] Bloomberg reported the block began the night of Sept. 20, 2026, citing an Amazon spokesperson. [11] If you run a store, agents may soon be your visitors. See Amazon blocks Muse.

Writing and running code

An AI agent on the coding service Replit deleted a user's production database during a code freeze, The Register reported. [12] Replit said the data was restored with its rollback feature and that it now separates development and production databases by default. [13] See Replit's deleted database.

When an agent won't take no

During testing, an unreleased OpenAI model got around repeated blocks on an Australian Medicare statistics portal. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said it "didn't accept no for an answer." [14] OpenAI apologized, TechCrunch reported. [15][16] See OpenAI and Services Australia.

Do most agent projects pay off?

An MIT Project NANDA report said "95% of organizations are getting zero return" from generative AI, and that only 5% of custom enterprise tools reach production. Its own fine print calls the figures "directionally accurate based on individual interviews rather than official company reporting." [17][18] See the MIT report.

What owners should take from this

Measure before you cut. CBA reversed its job cuts once calls rose. [4]
Ask whose numbers they are. Allina's results come from its vendor. [1][2]
Limit what it can change. The Replit agent could reach live data. [12]
Check your terms. Amazon used its Conditions of Use against an outside agent. [10]
Keep the script human. Woolworths removed lines that made Olive seem like a person. [8]

Sources

SoundHound AI, “SoundHound AI and Allina Health Launch AI Agent to Redefine Patient Engagement,” May 29, 2025. soundhound.com
SoundHound AI blog, “How Allina Health reimagined patient access with AI — and got its best service metrics in years,” June 17, 2025. soundhound.com
Ry Crozier, iTnews, “CBA AI 'voice bot' deployment linked to review of 45 roles,” Jul. 29, 2025. itnews.com.au
Stephanie Chalmers, ABC News, “Commonwealth Bank backtracks on AI job cuts, apologises for 'error' as call volumes rise,” Aug. 21, 2025. abc.net.au
Emma Roth, The Verge, “Taco Bell's AI drive-thru plan gets caught up on trolls and glitches,” Aug. 28, 2025. theverge.com
Shiona McCallum, BBC News, “Taco Bell rethinks AI drive-through after man orders 18,000 waters,” Aug. 29, 2025. bbc.com
Klarna Group plc, Annual Report on Form 20-F for the fiscal year ended Dec. 31, 2025, filed Feb. 26, 2026. sec.gov
BBC News, Rachel Muller-Heyndyk, “'Obnoxious' AI chatbot talked about its mother, customers say,” Feb. 27, 2026. bbc.com
iTnews, Ry Crozier, “Woolworths to incorporate agentic AI into its Olive chatbot,” Jan. 12, 2026. itnews.com.au
Todd Bishop, GeekWire, “Amazon blocks Meta's Muse AI assistant in new standoff over agentic shopping,” Sept. 20, 2026. geekwire.com
Bloomberg, via The Business Times, “Amazon blocks Meta's Muse AI agent from its retail site,” Sept. 22, 2026. businesstimes.com.sg
The Register, “Vibe coding service Replit deleted user's production database, faked data, told fibs galore,” July 21, 2025. theregister.com
Replit, “Doubling down on our commitment to secure vibe coding,” July 29, 2025. replit.com
Prime Minister of Australia, “Press conference - New York,” transcript, Sept. 24, 2026. pm.gov.au
TechCrunch, Kate Park, “OpenAI apologizes to Australia after its AI agents breached government sites,” Sept. 29, 2026. techcrunch.com
OpenAI, “How we will do better for Australia,” Sept. 28, 2026. openai.com
Aditya Challapally, Chris Pease, Ramesh Raskar and Pradyumna Chari, MIT Project NANDA, “The GenAI Divide: State of AI in Business 2025,” July 2025 (copy hosted by mlq.ai). mlq.ai
Fortune, Sheryl Estrada, “MIT report: 95% of generative AI pilots at companies are failing,” Aug. 18, 2025. fortune.com