AI agents can do more than answer queries. That raises a few questions.
Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. The spotlight in artificial intelligence is moving from chatbots to so-called agents, autonomous AI that can follow complex instructions and perform tasks from checking a car rental reservation at the airport to screening potential sales leads.
The first questions about AI agents as they enter the market will naturally focus on how capable these new systems are, including at making decisions with little or no human guidance. If the technology proves out, they could go a long way toward addressing businesses’ frustrations so far as they try to recoup their investment in AI capabilities.
But plenty of other questions also will follow. “It’s not clear to me these things will ever effectively stand alone, but the instructions that you will be able to give them will be increasingly high level," says Martin Casado, a general partner at venture capital and investment firm Andreessen Horowitz, where he leads the firm’s $1.25 billion infrastructure practice.
Big players are betting on agents for a breathtaking range of uses. An Apple executive used the company’s high-profile developers’ conference in June to paint the picture, describing the ways an AI-boosted Siri might help during a hypothetical visit from her mom by delving into the executive’s email, messages and other apps with minimal prompting.
The dating app Grindr says it is working on an AI-agent wingman that will recommend relationship candidates, help users keep track of conversations, suggest dating spots and make restaurant reservations. Cloud software provider ServiceNow said in September it plans to integrate AI agents into its platform that automates and manages functions such as IT, customer service, procurement, human
. Read more on livemint.com
