Presentation Title
The Real World Power of Agentic AI: Building the Future Instead of Buying It
Abstract
The automation landscape has transformed dramatically from brittle RPA scripts and expensive licensed platforms to purpose-built agentic AI systems that reason, decide, and act. In this session, Robbie Nicholls traces the full arc of that evolution and makes a case for why building custom AI beats buying generic platforms every time. Drawing on real projects across financial services, field services, energy brokerage, and utility management, Robbie shows what it actually looks like to deploy agentic AI in production: how data stays in your environment, how costs drop from thousands per month to tens of dollars, and how AI coding agents have fundamentally changed what one developer can build. Whether you are a student learning to code, a practitioner evaluating your tech stack, or a researcher studying human-AI systems in the wild, this talk will show you what is possible right now.
Speaker Bio
Robbie Nicholls is the founder of Agentic AI Services (AAI-Services), an automation and AI development firm focused on building fully custom, data-sovereign AI systems for businesses. A Texas A&M MIS graduate, Robbie spent four years at Protiviti building and leading intelligent automation practices, standing up RPA and AI automation programs and watching firsthand how licensing costs erode ROI and generic platforms fail on niche workflows. In 2024, he went independent and launched AAI Services, where he now builds end-to-end agentic AI platforms for clients across accounting, field services, energy, and utility sectors. His work spans AI email intelligence engines, full operational platforms replacing multiple SaaS tools, and AI-assisted document generation, all built on modern and secure stacks.
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