Roundup: ‘Agents’ Are the Next Step Toward AI’s Maturity
Sept. 23, 2024: Positioning AI solutions as team members rather than tools helps technology buyers understand exactly where AI fits into day-to-day work.
Since OpenAI launched ChatGPT in 2022, AI’s clearest advantage has been somewhat prosaic: It saves time. While solutions providers have pitched a number of capabilities, from identifying trends to creating images, when the time comes to talk about their product’s value, vendors inevitably highlight AI’s ability to make the workforce more efficient. The payoff, they say: Employees get more time to address “strategic” work rather than remain buried by routine chores like organizing recruiting efforts or hunting for details on performance.
From a marketing perspective, that makes sense. Saving employees time, increasing productivity and allowing more work to get done with fewer resources are themes that resonate with businesses. Messaging about a platform’s architecture should come later, after a product’s measurable value has been established.
Early on, marketing messages about AI focused on… AI itself. Terms like “powered by AI” went from forward-thinking to expected. In the words of multiple CHROs and CIOs, AI became “table stakes” for technology products. Only recently has the talk of what AI can do become specific. AI can provide analysis of HR data in real time, for example, generate job descriptions and summarize employee feedback or performance reviews. Marketing focused on saving person-hours and increasing productivity. Today, the pitch may be the same, but it’s been put into the language of HR and workforce management rather than technical advancement.
Against this background, the appearance of AI “agents” is a logical step. Agents are tools designed to augment the work of human employees, strengthening efforts to scale, analyze data, qualify sales leads or answer customer service questions. When necessary, agents hand off tasks to a live person, along with a summary of their interaction with customer or employees, an overview of the other parties involved in a task, and recommendations on what to do next.
In short, AI is being positioned as part of the team, able to operate independently and adapt to changing conditions in real time. Salesforce, which recently launched a suite of autonomous AI agents to augment the work of employees, compares AI to self-driving cars, which use real-time data to adapt to changing conditions and operate independently.
Describing AI solutions as agents is a notable step because it helps users and business leaders put the technology into context. It’s easier to grasp AI’s value when you understand its approach to customer service, for example, and how it will work with human team members. Agents are an early step toward shifting the conversation about AI from the technology’s potential to its ability to make real contributions to the business.
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Other Highlights
The HR Technology Conference kicks off Tuesday in Las Vegas. Expect a number of announcements for new products or enhancements that offer AI as a central component of their value. Hallway conversations are likely to include much comparing of notes as buyers and end users consider where to spend their money in 2025.
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