News/Agents
Microsoft launches 4 AI agents to automate Teams meetings and workflows
Microsoft has launched a suite of AI agents for Teams that will join meetings, answer channel questions, and automate various workplace tasks. The rollout represents Microsoft's most comprehensive integration of AI assistants into its collaboration platform, targeting the growing demand for AI-powered workplace automation among enterprise users. What you should know: Four distinct types of AI agents are now available across Microsoft's collaboration ecosystem, each designed for specific workplace scenarios.• Facilitator agents sit in Teams meetings to create agendas, take notes, answer questions, and suggest time allocations for different topics.• Channel agents respond to questions based on previous conversations and...
read Sep 17, 2025Google’s AP2 protocol enables secure AI agent payments with cryptographic proof
Google introduced the Agent Payments Protocol (AP2) on Tuesday, a standardization framework designed to enable AI agents to authorize and complete purchases while maintaining accountability and audit trails. The protocol addresses a fundamental challenge in AI-driven commerce: proving that automated transactions carry the same legitimacy as human-initiated purchases, with backing from over 60 companies including American Express, Mastercard, PayPal, and Coinbase. How it works: AP2 uses cryptographically signed "mandates" that create tamper-evident records for each transaction phase. An intent mandate captures when a user requests an item, followed by a cart mandate that approves the final purchase basket. A third...
read Sep 17, 2025Workday acquires AI firm Sana for $1.1B to boost HR automation
Workday announced it will acquire AI firm Sana for approximately $1.1 billion, marking another significant consolidation move in the rapidly evolving HR software sector. The deal underscores how established HR platforms are aggressively pursuing AI capabilities to meet growing customer demands for automated workplace solutions, joining a wave of major acquisitions that have reshaped the industry landscape this year. The big picture: HR software companies are consolidating at breakneck speed as they race to integrate AI capabilities into their platforms. Private equity firm Thoma Bravo agreed to buy Workday rival Dayforce for $12.3 billion just last month. Paychex announced a...
read Sep 17, 2025“Who may I say is calling?” AT&T tests AI receptionist to automatically screen spam calls
AT&T is testing an AI-powered digital receptionist that will automatically screen incoming calls to determine if they're legitimate or spam. The feature will roll out to select customers throughout 2025, using voice-to-voice and agentic AI to ask callers questions before deciding whether to put the call through or handle it independently. How it works: The AI receptionist answers calls on your behalf and conducts a brief screening conversation to assess the caller's legitimacy. It asks questions like "Who may I say is calling?" or "What is this in regard to?" to determine if the caller is human or bot and...
read Sep 17, 2025Amazon’s Creative Studio AI agent creates free video ads for small businesses
Amazon has launched a new AI agent that automates the entire advertisement production process, from audience research to video creation, targeting small businesses that typically lack access to high-quality ad production resources. The tool, available through Amazon's Creative Studio, leverages the company's vast e-commerce data and multiple AI models to create professional-grade advertisements at no additional cost to advertisers. What you should know: The AI agent handles every aspect of ad creation, from initial concept to final video production. The tool suggests product taglines, generates custom imagery, creates music and voiceovers, and assembles multi-scene video ads. It's powered by Amazon's...
read Sep 11, 2025Hotels now need to win over both humans and AI agents, says study
Artificial intelligence agents are reshaping how hotels must approach customer loyalty, moving beyond traditional brand awareness to algorithmic optimization, according to new research from Florida Atlantic University. The study reveals that as AI agents increasingly handle travel bookings on behalf of consumers, hotels face a fundamental shift from winning human hearts to earning the trust of algorithms that filter and recommend options. What you should know: Hotels must now design loyalty strategies that appeal to both human guests and the AI systems making decisions for them. Traditional marketing approaches like emotional branding and search engine optimization are becoming insufficient as...
read Sep 11, 2025Study finds central banks only partially shielded from political influence
A new study using AI agents to simulate Federal Reserve meetings found that political pressure significantly polarizes central bank decision-making, even within institutions designed to be independent. The research by George Washington University academics suggests the Fed is "only partially insulated from politics," revealing how external scrutiny can fragment board consensus and increase dissent in monetary policy discussions. The simulation setup: Researchers created AI agents modeled on real Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) members using their historical policy stances, biographies, and speeches to replicate the July 2025 meeting. The AI agents processed real-time economic data and financial news to reach...
read Sep 10, 2025Adobe launches 6 AI agents to automate marketing campaigns
Adobe has unveiled a comprehensive AI agent system designed to transform how marketing and customer experience teams manage campaigns and customer interactions. The Adobe Experience Platform (AEP) Agent Orchestrator, now generally available alongside six specialized AI agents, represents a significant shift toward automated, intelligent marketing operations that could help teams scale their efforts dramatically. The launch addresses a fundamental challenge facing modern marketing teams: managing increasingly complex customer journeys across multiple channels while delivering personalized experiences at scale. Rather than forcing marketers to juggle multiple tools and platforms, Adobe's system uses a central orchestration layer that coordinates specialized AI agents...
read Sep 10, 2025Hello Patient raises $22.5M for AI voice agents handling 20K daily calls
Hello Patient raised $22.5 million in Series A funding led by Scale Venture Partners, valuing the AI healthcare communications startup at $100 million. The company's AI voice agents now handle 10,000 to 20,000 provider-patient conversations daily across medical practices, representing explosive growth from just hundreds per day in October. What you should know: Hello Patient has built generative AI call agents that handle comprehensive patient communications across voice, text, and chat for outpatient medical practices.• The platform manages appointment booking, patient questions, and reengagement while meeting HIPAA compliance standards for healthcare privacy and security.• In less than a year, the...
read Sep 5, 2025Atlassian acquires Arc browser maker for $610M to build AI work browser
Atlassian has acquired The Browser Company, maker of the Arc and Dia web browsers, for $610 million to build an AI-powered browser specifically designed for knowledge workers. The acquisition positions Atlassian, the software company behind workplace tools like Trello and Jira, to compete in the rapidly evolving browser market where companies are racing to integrate generative AI into web browsing experiences. What you should know: Atlassian plans to upgrade Dia into a specialized browser that uses agentic AI to help knowledge workers navigate and retrieve information more efficiently. The new browser will transform traditional tabs into "icons enriched with context,"...
read Sep 4, 2025Leaning into lean: Smarsh cuts support staff from 20 to 5 with Salesforce AI agents
Smarsh, a compliance and surveillance technology company serving over 6,200 customers including 18 of the top 20 global banks, has deployed Salesforce's Agentforce platform to power AI agents for customer support. The deployment represents a strategic shift for the company, which specializes in creating AI agents for compliance monitoring but is now leveraging Salesforce's expertise to enhance customer service operations while achieving significant efficiency gains. What you should know: Smarsh has implemented multiple AI agents through Salesforce Agentforce to automate various customer service functions, starting with knowledge base creation and expanding to customer-facing support. The company replaced its traditional customer-facing...
read Sep 4, 2025Supersonik breaks the round barrier, raises $5M for AI that delivers instant software demos
Supersonik has raised $5 million in seed funding led by Andreessen Horowitz, a prominent Silicon Valley venture capital firm, to develop an AI agent that delivers live, multilingual software demos on demand. The San Francisco and Barcelona-based startup aims to eliminate the typical wait times for sales demos by offering instant, personalized product walkthroughs that adapt to each prospect's needs in real time. What you should know: Supersonik's AI agent provides immediate access to live software demonstrations without requiring prospects to fill out forms or wait for human sales representatives. The AI shares its screen and guides prospects through actual...
read Sep 3, 2025HappyRobot raises $44M for freight AI automation at $500M valuation
HappyRobot, an AI startup automating freight communications, has raised $44 million in Series B funding led by Base10 Partners, valuing the company at approximately $500 million. The San Francisco-based firm specializes in AI agents that handle routine logistics tasks like rate negotiation and appointment booking for major freight operators including DHL, Ryder, and Flexport. Why it matters: HappyRobot's specialized approach targets the freight industry's specific operational challenges rather than offering general-purpose AI solutions. The company has raised nearly $62 million total since its 2022 founding, with participation from Andreessen Horowitz, Y Combinator, and new investors including Tokio Marine and WaVe-X....
read Sep 3, 2025India’s Jio Haptik launches WhatsApp AI agents with 24/7 capabilities for SMBs
Jio Haptik, a subsidiary of Reliance Jio, has launched WhatsApp AI agents for enterprises and small-to-medium businesses (SMBs), with pricing starting at Rs 10,000. This in-house solution enables voice AI automation for business operations, potentially allowing thousands of SMBs across India to reduce employee costs while maintaining 24/7 customer service capabilities. What you should know: The agentic AI platform provides voice AI agent capabilities that automate routine business functions around the clock. Small clinics can take appointments continuously without requiring a receptionist on duty. Educational institutes can answer course-related queries instantly, even outside office hours. The solution aims to help...
read Sep 2, 2025Salesforce cuts 4K support jobs as AI handles 50% of customer service
Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff revealed that the company has eliminated 4,000 customer support jobs this year after deploying AI agents to handle nearly half of all customer interactions. The workforce reduction, which cut the support team from 9,000 to 5,000 employees, demonstrates how AI automation is directly replacing human workers at one of San Francisco's largest private employers while allowing the company to reallocate resources to sales and growth areas. The big picture: Salesforce's AI transformation represents a concrete example of how enterprise automation is reshaping workforce dynamics in real time. AI agents now handle 50% of all customer conversations,...
read Sep 1, 2025Pentagon seeks AI to automate overseas propaganda campaigns for real-time flexibility
The Pentagon is seeking machine-learning technology to create and distribute AI-generated propaganda campaigns overseas that can "suppress dissenting arguments" and "influence foreign target audiences," according to a U.S. Special Operations Command document obtained by The Intercept. This represents a significant escalation in military information warfare capabilities, with SOCOM specifically requesting contractors who can provide "agentic AI or multi-LLM agent systems" to automate large-scale influence operations in real-time. What they're seeking: SOCOM wants automated systems that can scrape internet content, analyze situations, and respond with propaganda messages aligned with military objectives. The document calls for technology that can "respond to post(s),...
read Aug 29, 2025How Intuit ditched chatbots and built AI agents that actually work
When Intuit's CEO demanded the company deliver its most ambitious AI launch by September 2023, the $200 billion software giant behind QuickBooks, TurboTax, and Mailchimp responded with characteristic speed. The result was Intuit Assist—a chatbot-style assistant grafted onto existing applications to demonstrate the company's AI credentials. It was supposed to revolutionize how small businesses managed their finances. Instead, it flopped spectacularly. "When you take a beautiful, well-designed user interface and you simply plop human-like chat on the side, that doesn't necessarily make it better," Alex Balazs, Intuit's Chief Technology Officer, reflects on the failed launch. The chatbot consumed valuable screen...
read Aug 29, 2025AI orchestration could double workforce capacity by 2025, according to PwC report
Artificial intelligence is no longer just another workplace tool—it's becoming the conductor of an entirely new orchestra. According to PwC's midyear AI update, companies aren't simply plugging AI into existing workflows anymore. Instead, they're orchestrating multiple AI agents to work together, fundamentally reimagining how business gets done. This shift represents something far more significant than the typical "AI will make us more productive" narrative. Dan Priest, PwC's US Chief AI Officer, describes a workplace transformation where specialized AI agents collaborate like human teams—one focusing on human resources, another on compliance, and a third on finance, all coordinated by an orchestrator...
read Aug 28, 2025OpenAI upgrades Realtime API with phone calling and image support
OpenAI has upgraded its Realtime API to general availability and launched gpt-realtime, its most advanced speech-to-speech model, with new capabilities including remote Model Context Protocol (MCP) support, image inputs, and phone calling functionality. These enhancements enable developers to build more sophisticated voice agents that can access broader tools and data sources while maintaining natural, human-like interactions across multiple languages and complex tasks. What you should know: The Realtime API updates significantly expand what voice agents can accomplish through enhanced connectivity and multimodal capabilities. The API now supports remote MCP servers, allowing voice agents to seamlessly perform actions from connected apps...
read Aug 25, 2025Perplexity launches $5 monthly Comet Plus sharing 80% revenue with publishers
Perplexity has launched Comet Plus, a new $5 monthly subscription that shares revenue with publishers when AI agents use their content to answer questions. The initiative addresses growing concerns about AI companies using publisher content without fair compensation, offering an 80% revenue split to participating publications. What you should know: Comet Plus represents a new approach to compensating publishers for AI-driven content usage beyond traditional web traffic. Publishers will receive 80% of the $5 monthly subscription fee, with the remaining 20% allocated to computing costs. The subscription gives users access to premium content from a group of trusted publishers and...
read Aug 22, 2025Symposium simulacrum: Stanford researcher launches first AI-only science conference
Stanford computer scientist James Zou is launching Agents4Science, a controversial academic conference where AI systems will research, write, review, and present all scientific work. The October event represents the first systematic attempt to evaluate whether AI can function as autonomous scientists, potentially accelerating discovery while raising fundamental questions about the future of human expertise in research. What you should know: The conference requires AI to be the primary author on all submissions, with other AI systems handling peer review and text-to-speech presentations. All research areas are welcome, from physics to medicine, as long as AI conducted most of the work...
read Aug 22, 2025Musk launches cheekily named “Macrohard” to challenge Microsoft with AI agents
Elon Musk has announced plans to create "Macrohard," a new AI-powered software company designed to directly compete with Microsoft. The venture, tied to his existing xAI startup, aims to develop hundreds of specialized AI agents capable of coding and generating content, with Musk claiming it should be possible to "simulate [Microsoft] entirely with AI." What you should know: Macrohard represents Musk's latest ambitious tech venture, combining his trademark provocative naming with serious AI development goals. The company will function as a "purely AI software company" integrated with xAI's existing infrastructure and Grok chatbot technology. Musk registered the Macrohard trademark with...
read Aug 22, 2025Google’s AI Mode now books restaurants for $250/month subscribers
Google has introduced agentic AI capabilities to its AI Mode search feature that can help users find restaurants and make reservations automatically. The new functionality, currently limited to Google AI Ultra subscribers paying $250 per month, represents Google's latest attempt to bring AI agents into practical consumer applications after previous efforts like Duplex failed to gain widespread adoption. How it works: AI Mode now leverages Project Mariner, Google's AI agent technology, and partnerships with booking platforms to streamline restaurant discovery and reservation booking. Users provide details like party size, date, time, location, and preferred cuisine in a single text prompt....
read Aug 21, 2025Job alert: Y Combinator’s Cua hiring founding engineer for AI agent platform at $150K
Y Combinator-backed Cua is seeking a founding engineer to own the user experience and design for their AI agent infrastructure platform. The San Francisco-based startup, which has gained 9,000+ GitHub stars in just four months, is building tools that enable AI agents to safely interact with real computers and applications at scale. What you should know: This founding role combines frontend engineering with UX/design responsibilities, offering significant equity and product ownership in a fast-growing AI infrastructure company. The position offers $100,000-$150,000 salary plus 0.50%-0.75% equity for someone with 2+ years of frontend experience. Candidates will own the entire UI/UX across...
read