SAS Viya’s agentic AI framework with built-in governance helps organizations create purpose-built AI agents that fuel trusted decisions

ORLANDO, Fla., May 7, 2025 /PRNewswire/ — SAS INNOVATE — 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.

“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.”

AI agents get decisioning support with ethical calibration

True enterprise value from agentic AI comes from building collaborative, intelligence-amplifying systems that work with humans. SAS Viya’s agentic AI framework is underpinned by three pillars that define how AI agents are designed and delivered: 

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.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.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.

“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.”

The future of agentic AI, powered by SAS Viya
SAS Viya supports organizations through every stage of the agentic AI journey, from data ingestion and analysis to building, deploying and monitoring AI agents. It enables continuous performance tracking, governance and security, offering a comprehensive and streamlined approach to managing AI agents throughout their lifecycle. And SAS brings decades of trusted governance to the table, embedding auditability, bias detection and compliance into every agent.

SAS’ future agentic AI roadmap includes infusing co-pilot productivity assistants into SAS Viya to help users work faster, smarter and with fewer manual steps, while staying grounded in enterprise logic. Leaning into its deep industry expertise, SAS also plans to deliver pre-packaged, domain-specific intelligent agents that will integrate seamlessly into industry workflows (e.g., data engineering tasks, optimizing supply chains), helping organizations accelerate time-to-value without sacrificing control or confidence. 

“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.”

Learn more about AI agents with SAS at: https://www.sas.com/en_us/solutions/ai/agentic-ai.html.

Today’s announcement was made at SAS Innovate, the data and AI experience for business leaders, technical users and SAS Partners. This year’s event is supported by our partner sponsors, including Microsoft, Intel and AWS. 

Keep up with the latest news from SAS by visiting sas.com/news or follow us on LinkedIn or X.

About SAS
SAS is a global leader in data and AI. With SAS software and industry-specific solutions, organizations transform data into trusted decisions. SAS gives you THE POWER TO KNOW®.

SAS and all other SAS Institute Inc. product or service names are registered trademarks or trademarks of SAS Institute Inc. in the USA and other countries. ® indicates USA registration. Other brand and product names are trademarks of their respective companies. Copyright © 2025 SAS Institute Inc. All rights reserved. 

Editorial Contacts:
Jennifer James
jennifer.james@sas.com

Danielle Bates
danielle.bates@sas.com

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SOURCE SAS

Firm to employ state-of-the-art technology to gather current conditions of all County-
maintained roadways

PITTSBURGH, May 7, 2025 /PRNewswire/ — Michael Baker International, a global leader in engineering, consulting and advisory services, today announced that the firm has been selected by Charleston County, South Carolina, to complete detailed pavement data collection for all county-maintained roadways. Utilizing Advanced Transportation Linear Inspection System (ATLIS) vehicles, Michael Baker will employ state-of-the-art technology, including 3D laser scanners, pavement profiling lasers, ultra-high-definition cameras, and high-accuracy navigation systems to gather current conditions of more than 1,900 miles of County-maintained roadways.

Charleston County Public Works maintains a Pavement Management System that collects, analyzes and sorts data for all roads in its network. The resulting overall condition index is used to identify streets most in need of repair and to develop multi-year paving and preservation plans. This initiative reflects the thorough evaluations conducted by the County to assess pavement distress and defects.

“We are proud to partner with Charleston County to support their commitment to maintaining safe and reliable roadways,” said Nathan Kebede, National Lead for Pavement Services at Michael Baker International. “By leveraging cutting-edge technology, our team will deliver precise, data-driven insights that help the County make informed decisions, prioritize improvements, enhance the longevity of the local transportation system and ultimately, improve quality of life for residents.”

About Michael Baker International
Michael Baker International is a leading provider of engineering, consulting and advisory services spanning five distinct Verticals: Infrastructure, Design-Build Services, Federal Programs and Services, Consulting and Technology Solutions (CTS) and Integrated Design and Advisory (IDA). The firm’s Practices encompass all facets of infrastructure, including design and civil engineering for diverse bridge, highway, water, rail and transit and aviation projects, as well as planning, architecture, environmental and construction and program management. For 85 years, the company has been a trusted partner to clients, providing comprehensive services and solutions, delivering expertise and quality, and embracing emerging technologies and the latest innovations – like intelligent transportation, engineered models and public safety software as a service (SaaS).

The company has more than 4,900 employees across more than 90 office locations. Michael Baker’s Wolf Pack is committed to Making a Difference for clients and communities through a culture of innovation, collaboration and technological advancement while evolving its business to become a full-service engineering and consulting firm.

To learn more, visit https://mbakerintl.com/.

Contact:  Julia Covelli
julia.covelli@mbakerintl.com
(866) 293-4609

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SOURCE Michael Baker International

eDesign Interactive delivered a new website for CHEIFS, helping Cornerstone Financing introduce its home equity investment solution to the market.

MORRISTOWN, N.J., May 7, 2025 /PRNewswire/ — Award-winning digital agency eDesign Interactive has unveiled a new website for Cornerstone Home Equity Insurance/Investment Funding Solutions (CHEIFS), a financial product that empowers people to plan for retirement by tapping into their home equity.

The website launch follows the successful revamp of the brand-new corporate website for Cornerstone Financing.

To bring this message to life, eDesign Interactive used bold visuals and dynamic animations to highlight the transformational impact CHEIFS delivers to homeowners and the advisors who guide them.

The website for CHEIFS was built through a clear, step-by-step process:

Established the brand and marketing strategy from scratchProduced visual assets, including investor decks, product guides, and social media contentDesigned a clean, functional website aligned with brand messagingAdded intuitive navigation and interactive elementsCreated targeted content for financial advisorsIntegrated Hubspot, Chili Piper, and Typeform for lead generation

The goal was to create a “scrolly-telling” experience to educate visitors about the product and opportunities, said Vincent Mazza, managing partner at eDesign Interactive.

“Over time, the site was designed to be modular and scalable, adding more industry-relevant examples and content. What we feel is unique is how sticky the site feels and the immediate attention to detail to the brand it has. There is no doubt that this company invested the time and effort to do something that was not cookie-cutter.”

For this project, eDesign Interactive chose a bold, financial-themed color palette that reflects reliability and expertise, complementing the site’s intuitive navigation and well-structured content.

Together, these elements created an engaging user experience that helps financial advisors and homeowners quickly understand the value of Cornerstone’s offerings.

Mazza explained that it’s all about professionalism and simplicity for a corporate site.

“We wanted to introduce a new color that would make it clear the corporate site, using blue, is different from the CHEIFS green and yellow usage. Combined, it feels connected, but there is a strong brand hierarchy between the two. For a rather small site, it feels large and expansive through the use of large imagery, transitions, and motion graphics.”

For more information on how eDesign Interactive builds digital experiences that reflect an organization’s vision and impact, visit https://edesigninteractive.com/portfolio.

About eDesign Interactive

eDesign is an award-winning digital agency creating world-class websites, interactive landing pages, and immersive digital campaigns. The agency collaborates with leading brands to educate, engage, entertain, and drive sales. For more information, visit edesigninteractive.com.

About Cornerstone Financing

Cornerstone Financing helps homeowners unlock cash by selling a portion of their home equity without taking on additional debt or monthly payments. The company was founded by mortgage and insurance professionals Craig Corn and Daniel Anderson. It works with financial advisors to fund insurance, annuities, and long-term care using its CHEIFS solution.

Media Contact

Elena Krapcheva
Business Development and Marketing
(973) 867 7042
elena@edesigninteractive.com
https://edesigninteractive.com/ 

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SOURCE eDesign Interactive