News/Agents
Cognizant’s new AI agents let you prototype without code
Cognizant enhances Neuro AI platform with multi-agent functionality: Cognizant has upgraded its Neuro AI platform, introduced last year, to include multi-agent capabilities, allowing organizations to ideate, prototype, and test generative AI applications without coding. Platform evolution and client-driven enhancements: The Neuro AI platform has transformed from a service operated by Cognizant experts to a tool that enterprises can use independently and host in-house. Babak Hodjat, Cognizant's CTO of AI, revealed that client demand drove the decision to make Neuro AI available for self-use by enterprises. The platform's ability to generate ideas for applying generative AI in businesses has made it...
read Oct 15, 2024Decagon lands $65M for agent-powered customer service system
AI-powered customer service breakthrough: Decagon, a startup founded by Jesse Zhang and Ashwin Sreenivas, has raised $65 million in Series B funding for its advanced AI-powered customer service system. The company's AI agents have consistently outperformed competitors in head-to-head evaluations conducted by potential clients, leading to partnerships with notable companies like Notion, Duolingo, Rippling, Bilt, and Substack. Decagon's AI chatbots can handle a wide range of customer service tasks, including answering questions, issuing refunds, canceling subscriptions, disputing transactions, and replacing credit cards. The recent funding round, led by Bain Capital Ventures with participation from prominent investors and VC firms, values...
read Oct 15, 2024What to know about OpenAI’s new Swarm AI agent framework
Introducing OpenAI's Swarm framework: OpenAI has launched an experimental tool called Swarm, designed to orchestrate networks of AI agents, offering a unique blend of simplicity, flexibility, and control in multi-agent collaboration. Key features and design philosophy: Swarm emphasizes simplicity and transparency in agent interactions, utilizing a stateless design through the Chat Completions API. The framework focuses on ease of understanding and implementation, making it accessible to developers new to multi-agent systems. Swarm's stateless model means agents do not retain memory between interactions, which contributes to its simplicity but limits its use for complex, context-dependent tasks. Developers have more granular control...
read Oct 14, 2024OpenAI unveils ‘Swarm’ framework for development of AI agent networks
OpenAI's Swarm framework: A new frontier in AI-driven automation: OpenAI has introduced an experimental framework called "Swarm" that enables developers to create networks of interconnected AI agents capable of collaborating on complex tasks autonomously. The framework provides a blueprint for building multi-agent AI systems, making this technology more accessible to a wider range of developers. While not an official product, Swarm represents a significant step forward in the development of collaborative AI networks. The release has sparked intense discussions among industry leaders and AI ethicists about the future of enterprise automation and its potential impacts. Potential business applications and implications:...
read Oct 14, 2024Productivity, security and the future of workplace dynamics
AI's expanding role in productivity and cybersecurity: The Innovation Index this week highlights significant advancements in AI technology, with a focus on productivity enhancements and cybersecurity applications. OpenAI's ChatGPT introduces Canvas, a co-editing feature that allows users to compare their original text with AI suggestions, transforming the tool into a more effective copilot for iterative writing processes. The introduction of Canvas comes at a crucial time for OpenAI, which reportedly does not expect profitability for another five years, raising questions about whether such upgrades could accelerate their financial timeline. Cybersecurity's AI revolution: A significant shift is occurring in the cybersecurity...
read Oct 12, 2024AI21 CEO thinks unlocking AI agents means outgrowing the Transformer model
The rise of alternative AI architectures: AI21 CEO Ari Goshen argues that Transformer models, while popular, may not be the best choice for developing efficient AI agents due to their limitations and high costs. Goshen believes that alternative architectures, such as Mamba and AI21's JAMBA, offer better performance and efficiency for AI agents. These architectures can provide faster inference times, longer context, and improved memory performance compared to Transformer models. AI21 is developing foundation models using its JAMBA architecture, which combines elements of Joint Attention and Mamba. Challenges with Transformer models: The reliance on Large Language Models (LLMs) built with...
read Oct 11, 2024AI agents are the future tech companies have been promising
The rise of AI agents: A new frontier in artificial intelligence: Major tech companies and startups are positioning AI agents as the next big leap in AI technology, promising autonomous programs capable of performing complex tasks with minimal human intervention. Microsoft, Google, Anthropic, and OpenAI are among the leading companies investing heavily in AI agent development, seeing it as a way to monetize their expensive AI models. AI agents are designed to interact with environments, learn from feedback, and make decisions independently, setting them apart from traditional bots or simple automation tools. Potential applications for AI agents include customer service...
read Oct 9, 2024AI shopping agents could transform how you buy on Amazon
Amazon's AI ambitions in e-commerce: The tech giant is developing advanced AI agents aimed at revolutionizing the online shopping experience, with potential implications for both consumers and the broader retail industry. Amazon recently introduced Rufus, a chatbot powered by a large language model (LLM) trained on internet text and Amazon's proprietary data, capable of answering questions about products on the platform. The company's current LLM boasts "hundreds of billions of parameters," with an even larger model in development. Future AI agents may have the ability to perform complex tasks like navigating websites or operating a PC to complete various actions....
read Oct 9, 2024SAP Build is being reimagined to enable faster enterprise software and AI agents
AI-powered enhancements for SAP Build platform: SAP is introducing significant artificial intelligence capabilities to its Build platform, aiming to position it as the primary extension solution for all SAP applications. The company unveiled an extensibility wizard that provides developers with direct access to SAP Build from S/4HANA Cloud Public Edition, enabling seamless extension of custom fields, business logic, and processes. This integration preserves crucial business context, allowing developers to switch between environments without losing important information. By the end of 2024, the extensibility wizard will also support the creation of custom SAP Fiori and SAPUI5 applications. Joule Studio: A dedicated...
read Oct 8, 2024How Dynamiq differentiates itself in the crowded AI agent landscape
Dynamiq emerges as a comprehensive AI platform: Dynamiq positions itself as an end-to-end operating platform for generative AI, addressing the complex needs of modern businesses in their AI journey. Founded by Vitalii Duk, former engineering leader at Careem, Dynamiq aims to provide an enterprise-grade LLM and agent application platform. The platform takes a holistic approach, covering the entire AI development lifecycle from prototyping to deployment and fine-tuning. Key features and differentiators: Dynamiq's platform offers several unique features that set it apart in the crowded AI agent landscape. On-premise deployment capabilities ensure data privacy and security, crucial for industries dealing with...
read Oct 8, 2024SAP expands open source AI support, turns Joule into collaborative agent
SAP's AI evolution: Joule and open-source LLM integration: SAP has announced significant advancements in its generative AI capabilities, expanding the functionality of its AI copilot Joule and introducing new open-source large language model (LLM) support. Joule, SAP's generative AI copilot, can now support up to 80% of customers' most common business tasks, transforming it into a collaborative agent capable of handling complex workflows. The company is accelerating product innovation on the cloud to attract more customers to its RISE with SAP initiative, which aims to guide customers' transition from on-premises ERP systems to the cloud. SAP reported a 25% increase...
read Oct 8, 2024Forget chat. AI that can hear, see and click is already here
AI's Evolution Beyond Text: The landscape of artificial intelligence is rapidly expanding beyond traditional text-based chatbots, with new multimodal models capable of processing and generating content across various formats including audio, video, and images. Google's NotebookLM, originally launched as a research tool, has gained viral popularity with its AI podcasting feature called Audio Overview. Users can create AI-generated podcasts on various topics, including personal profiles and content summaries. The quality of multimodal generative content has improved significantly in a short period, as evidenced by the advancement from Meta's Make-A-Video to its new Movie Gen tool. Shifting Interaction Paradigms: The way...
read Oct 8, 2024Takeaways from the Forrester APAC Summit on agentic AI
The rise of Agentic AI in marketing: The Forrester B2B APAC Summit 2024 in Singapore highlighted the growing importance of Agentic AI as the next frontier in generative AI technology, poised to transform business operations and marketing strategies. The summit brought together CMOs and marketing leaders from across the Asia Pacific region to discuss emerging trends and share experiences. A key focus was on breaking down silos within revenue processes and reimagining customer-centric approaches that align with the entire customer lifecycle. Rapid advancements in generative AI and Agentic AI are accelerating this transformation in three critical areas: changing the nature...
read Oct 3, 2024How AI can empower businesses to achieve ‘decision dominance’
AI-powered decision dominance in business: The SUDA model (Sense, Understand, Decide, Act) is emerging as a crucial framework for companies seeking to leverage artificial intelligence to gain a competitive edge in today's rapidly evolving business landscape. The SUDA model, introduced in the 2023 book "Boundless," outlines how AI can enhance a company's ability to sense, understand, decide, and act more quickly and effectively than its competitors. By reducing the time between each stage of the SUDA model, businesses can achieve what the military calls "decision dominance" and "overmatch," allowing them to make more informed decisions at an accelerated pace. Agentic...
read Oct 3, 2024Microsoft AI chief: ‘ever present’ personal AI companions are coming
AI's imminent evolution and integration: Microsoft's head of AI, Mustafa Suleyman, predicts that AI assistants with advanced long-term memory capabilities are approximately a year away from becoming a reality. Suleyman envisions AI companions that can recall conversations, projects, and problems, encouraging users to invest more time and share personal history with these digital assistants. The concept of "ever present, persistent, very capable co-pilot companions" in daily life is being promoted as the next step in AI development. Critics raise concerns about data security, privacy, potential misinformation, and inherent biases in deeply integrated AI tools. The privacy paradox: Suleyman argues that...
read Oct 3, 2024AI agents will work independently by 2025, OpenAI predicts
OpenAI's ambitious plan for AI agents: OpenAI, the leading artificial intelligence research company, is gearing up to launch AI "agents" in 2025, marking a significant leap forward in autonomous AI capabilities. CEO Sam Altman has confidently stated that "2025 is when agents will work," signaling the company's commitment to this groundbreaking technology. OpenAI has already demonstrated an early prototype of an AI agent, showcasing a voice assistant capable of independently making a phone call and ordering strawberries. This development represents the third of five stages in OpenAI's roadmap towards achieving Artificial General Intelligence (AGI), a long-standing goal in the field...
read Oct 3, 2024Accenture launches Nvidia unit to accelerate enterprise AI
AI-driven partnership for enterprise transformation: Accenture has formed a significant partnership with Nvidia, creating a dedicated business group to accelerate enterprise AI adoption and scale generative AI solutions. The Accenture Nvidia Business Group will comprise 30,000 professionals trained to help clients reinvent processes and leverage AI as a competitive advantage. This collaboration aims to meet the growing demand for generative AI, which has already driven $3 billion in Accenture bookings in its recently closed fiscal year. The partnership will utilize Accenture's AI Refinery platform, which incorporates Nvidia's full AI stack, including Nvidia AI Foundry, Nvidia AI Enterprise, and Nvidia Omniverse....
read Oct 2, 2024Can the SaaS business model survive the AI boom?
AI's impact on SaaS: A transformative shift: The rise of artificial intelligence is reshaping the Software as a Service (SaaS) industry, prompting speculation about the future of enterprise software and established companies in the space. While some predict the end of SaaS, the reality is more nuanced, with AI potentially enhancing rather than replacing traditional software models. Major SaaS providers like Salesforce, Workday, NetSuite, and ServiceNow are likely to play an even more critical role in the evolving tech ecosystem. However, SaaS companies that merely embed AI features into existing software and charge incremental fees may face increased vulnerability. The...
read Oct 1, 2024Hubspot CTO explains how networks of collaborative AI agents will transform work
The dawn of collaborative AI networks: Hubspot's CTO, Dharmesh Shah, envisions a future where networks of AI agents work together to tackle complex tasks, potentially revolutionizing how businesses operate and interact with technology. Shah believes that AI agents represent the next evolution beyond today's AI copilots, capable of handling higher-order goals involving multiple steps. The concept of collaborative AI networks could transform various aspects of business, including customer relationship management (CRM), sales, and marketing. Hubspot is positioning itself at the forefront of this trend with the launch of agent.ai, a professional network for AI agents that has already attracted over...
read Oct 1, 2024Meta, Outshift, Intuit and Asana are betting that the future of AI is agentic
The dawn of agentic AI: The concept of agentic artificial intelligence, which involves autonomous systems capable of making near-human decisions, is gaining traction in the tech industry and was a central focus at a recent VentureBeat AI Impact Tour event. Industry leaders from companies such as Outshift, Meta, Asana, and Intuit gathered to discuss the future of AI and its potential to revolutionize various sectors through autonomous decision-making capabilities. The concept of agentic AI represents a significant shift from traditional AI systems, promising more advanced and independent problem-solving abilities. Key components of agentic systems: Vijoy Pandey from Outshift emphasized the...
read Oct 1, 2024Inside the journey to autonomous AI agents and the VCs funding them
The evolving landscape of AI agents: Venture capitalists are keenly focused on the future of AI agents, with Menlo Ventures outlining a framework for understanding their potential capabilities and development trajectory. Menlo Ventures has identified four key capabilities that fully autonomous AI agents should possess: reasoning, external memory, execution, and planning. Current AI agents do not yet embody all of these capabilities, indicating significant room for growth and development in the field. Levels of AI agent autonomy: The venture capital firm has proposed a three-tiered classification system for AI agents, reflecting increasing levels of autonomy and sophistication. At the most...
read Sep 30, 2024AI agents are the new digital workforce — here’s what it means
AI's transformative impact on the workplace: By 2030, artificial intelligence is poised to revolutionize how businesses operate and employees interact with technology, reshaping industries and redefining work itself. Recent advancements like Google's NotebookLM with Audio Overview demonstrate AI's increasing ability to replicate human-like behaviors, such as generating podcast-style conversations between non-existent individuals. These developments signal a broader trend of AI evolving beyond simple task automation to become collaborative team members and reshape core business processes. Key AI innovations reshaping work: AI agents as integral team members: By 2030, AI agents will be fully integrated into enterprise operations, handling complex tasks...
read Sep 30, 2024AI agents and the future of white-collar work
The AI revolution in white-collar work: Artificial Intelligence is poised to transform office and professional jobs by supplementing human workers with AI copilots and agents, potentially automating up to 56% of tasks in certain roles. Partners at Andreessen Horowitz, Angela Strange and James da Costa, predict that every white-collar role will eventually have an AI copilot, followed by an AI agent. While AI may not entirely replace office and professional jobs, it is expected to handle a significant portion of tasks, potentially freeing up workers to focus on more strategic and value-added activities. The transformation could lead to a shift...
read Sep 27, 2024Why your business needs an AI agent strategy
AI agents poised to drive ROI from artificial intelligence: The emergence of AI agents is set to become a major trend in late 2024, offering businesses a practical way to leverage AI technology and measure its impact. AI agents are composite, autonomous applications that enable collaboration between humans and AI to complete tasks, going beyond the capabilities of existing AI-assisted copilots or chatbots. These agents can take actions based on LLM responses, with or without human involvement, and comprise multiple reasoning or action capabilities. Unlike chatbots, AI agents can be given specific workflows or tools to complete activities, making their...
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