Move over, copilots: it’s time to make room for the AI agents. That has been the message from the software industry in recent days, as some of the biggest companies have lined up behind the latest idea for how to turn generative artificial intelligence into a staple of working life. Microsoft, Salesforce and Workday this week put agents at the centre of their AI plans, while Oracle and ServiceNow have also used the industry’s annual round of user conferences this month to promote the idea. AI assistants known as copilots — a term first popularised by Microsoft — have become the software industry’s main response to the generative AI unleashed by the launch of ChatGPT nearly two years ago. The latest wave of AI agents are designed to go further and take actions on behalf of users. While agents have become the newest front in the battle between tech giants like OpenAI and Google, they have also turned into the software industry’s latest attempt to sell generative AI to business customers. The evolution reflects both an advance in the underlying technology, as well as a new marketing pitch from an industry looking to capitalise on a heavily hyped technology that has yet to have much impact on its revenues. If the industry’s claims prove true, the move from AI assistants to agents could also open the door to a far more disruptive phase in the evolution of generative AI, both for workers affected by the technology as well as software companies themselves. Behind the spread of agents — also widely referred to as “agentic” systems — lie a number of advances in the underlying technology since the first generative AI chatbots.
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