AI agents are a type of software designed to automate tasks and provide assistance in various areas, such as customer service, HR, and IT support. While there is no consensus on a definition, most experts agree that an agent is intelligent software capable of perceiving its environment, reasoning about it, making decisions, and taking actions to achieve specific objectives autonomously.
Perplexity’s AI agent helps with holiday shopping, while Google’s Project Mariner assists with tasks such as finding flights, booking hotels, and recipe suggestions. Other companies like Asana see agents as tools that help humans complete tasks, whereas Sierra views them as customer experience solutions for more complex problems.
Industry experts, including Rudina Seseri and Aaron Levie, believe AI agents will evolve to handle a wide range of tasks in the future. Rodney Brooks notes, however, that dealing with complex issues is much harder than anticipated, and it’s essential to address these challenges.
David Cushman views current bots as assistants that help humans complete specific tasks, while Jon Turow emphasizes the need for an AI agent infrastructure to support the creation of these agents. Fred Havemeyer suggests multiple models working together will be necessary to create effective agents.
Ultimately, the industry is still in a period of transition, and significant advances are needed for AI agents to operate as envisioned. While progress has been made, it’s essential to acknowledge that we’re not there yet.
Source: https://techcrunch.com/2024/12/15/what-exactly-is-an-ai-agent