Intuit, a pioneer in agentic AI, experienced challenges in its AI agent architecture, leading to two rebuilds within four months. At VB Transform 2026, Nhung Ho, Intuit’s VP of AI, explained the shifts from a fleet of specialist agents to a central orchestration layer, and finally to a skills and tools-based system due to complexity issues in the orchestrator. The orchestration layer failed because agents exchanged results via natural language, causing significant loss of context and compounded errors. The rebuild took 60 days with a functional version ready in under 20 days. Gaining support from leadership and engineers involved demos showcasing improved performance and emphasizing scalability benefits. A key feature of the new system is the ability to involve a human agent mid-conversation, enhancing customer support with full context and secure permissions. Feedback mechanisms have evolved, with almost all customers now providing input, enabling systematic improvements through direct, often candid, customer responses.
Back
