Virtual assistants like Siri and Alexa are yesterday’s news. ChatGPT is one of the hottest AI tools today – but there’s a whole new generation of AI on the horizon, called AI agents. They’re the next big thing, according to industry experts.
As OpenAI CEO Sam Altman describes it, these new tools will eventually become more ingrained in our everyday lives than the smartphone. Put simply, AI agents are AI models and algorithms that act independently on behalf of humans… but what does this mean in practice?
A Whole New AI Paradigm
According to Altman’s vision, an AI agent will be “just this thing that is off helping you.” It’ll deliver an experience similar to a “super-competent colleague that knows absolutely everything about [your] whole life, every email, every conversation [you’ve] ever had, but doesn’t feel like an extension.”
If you’ve had a chance to play around with OpenAI’s tools, like ChatGPT, DALL-E, and Sora, we’d bet you found their capabilities pretty impressive. They are some of the world’s preeminent AI applications – able to generate human-like text and both realistic and fantastical images and videos with stunning speed.
But compared to what’s coming next? Altman calls these tools “incredibly dumb.” That’s because they’re still mostly used for isolated tasks within a chat interface. Imagine being able to take that AI into the real world.
Here are four key aspects of these next-generation AI agents:
- Interaction with Surroundings – They’re not just passive observers! Often equipped with actuators or other mechanisms, they can take physical actions, such as a robot picking up an object.
- Learning and Adaptation – They learn from experiences and adapt to changing conditions, continuously improving their performance by processing and analyzing data. They use sensors like cameras and microphones to perceive their environment and refine their understanding of it.
- Decision-making Ability – An AI agent takes in information, taps into its stored knowledge, and uses algorithms along with reasoning processes to decide the optimal way to achieve its objectives.
- Setting Goals and Defining Roles – Their function is shaped by the goals required to successfully carry out a particular task or request. Agents can be arranged hierarchically, where high-level agents oversee and set objectives for lower-level agents who handle the actual work.
Large language models (LLMs) have already come a long way. They’re now able to take a goal you describe in plain language and translate it into concrete step-by-step instructions that a computer can interpret and carry out. But these processes typically only run when initiated by a human – the model tackles a specific task and stops when the job is done.
Next-gen AI agents will be different. The aim is for them to operate with independent agency to proactively pursue goals in both the digital and physical worlds without needing continuous human direction.
So just like a human assistant, an AI agent could write notes to itself, consult its own memory, track the progress of tasks, and even delegate responsibilities (to digital copies of itself or to human colleagues)… all without necessarily waiting for a human command to spring into action.
It would do tasks as it sees fit. Real work in the real world.
But we aren’t quite there yet.
Where We Are and Where We’re Going
Kanjun Qiu, CEO and founder of AI startup Imbue, posits that today’s AI agents are like the self-driving cars of 10+ years ago. That is, they can do things, but they’re not exactly reliable or autonomous yet.
“Today we have these computers and they’re really powerful, but we have to micromanage them,” she says.
As Qiu describes it, today’s prototypical AI agents – like ChatGPT-4o – excel in controlled environments where variables are limited and predictable. When faced with tasks requiring complex decision-making or deep contextual understanding, they often fall short.
But there’s no reason to think we won’t overcome these limitations. The trajectory of AI development has been incredibly rapid, and the agents are built on increasingly powerful base models. It’s only a matter of time – and ongoing training and refinement – before AI agents evolve into the sophisticated helpers we’ve long envisioned.
Of course, it’s not all sunshine and rainbows. We’ll certainly have to contend with AI safety and figure out how to mitigate potential risks from autonomous agents in the years to come. But it’s exciting to think about what may be around the corner! For instance, perhaps there will be AI agents that can:
- Serve as your travel agent and tour guide for trips, handling everything from booking flights and accommodations to securing dinner reservations and tickets to events. Plus, they can take into account your preferences for travel times, budgets, interests, and even feedback from previous trips.
- Boost your financial health by paying your bills on time, alerting you to unusual spending, suggesting budget adjustments, and even investing small amounts to help grow your savings, all while ensuring you’re getting the best rates and terms.
- Be your personal nutritionist and fitness coach, developing customized meal plans and exercise routines according to your nutritional goals, dietary restrictions, and activity levels – with real-time adjustments based on your fitness device data – and even ordering groceries for you.
As we peer into the future of AI, it’s clear that transformative change is imminent.
Looking Ahead
The next generation of AI agents promises to reshape our relationship with technology, moving from simple task execution to becoming proactive, intelligent partners in our daily lives.
At Ahura AI, we are excited to be part of this journey. AI has made such huge strides in just a few short years! And even though it’s not quite ready to handle complex real-world tasks solo, it’s already making a big difference in the world.
Curious to learn more? We’d be delighted to help you discover how to make GenAI work for you. Let’s transform your future.