Microsoft and Nvidia are betting on the future of work being shaped by autonomous AI agents that can execute complex tasks independently. Credit: Pexels
Key Takeaways
- An emerging field of more autonomous AI solutions can execute complex tasks independently.
- Microsoft is introducing new Copilot capabilities that will let users program their own autonomous agents.
- Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang said he envisions the company having hundreds of millions of AI workers to assist its human employees.
From content moderation to customer service, AI-driven automation is reshaping the world of work, empowering the labor of human employees and boosting overall workplace productivity.
Behind this trend, firms like Microsoft and Nvidia are experimenting with increasingly autonomous agents that can act as digital employees capable of carrying out tasks independently.
Microsoft’s Autonomous Agents
Positioning itself as a key player in the emerging sector, Microsoft is introducing new Copilot capabilities that will let users program their own autonomous agents.
Moving beyond the chatbot model of text-based inputs and outputs that have defined Copilot up until now, the new agents can be programmed to respond to events and trigger actions.
These independent agents “can automate and orchestrate complex, long-running business processes with more autonomy and less human intervention,” Microsoft said in a statement.
When the feature launches next month, the firm will get the ball rolling with ten pre-made autonomous copilots.
The Rise of AI Workers
While the underlying technology remains the same, the emergence of autonomous agents marks an evolution in how large language models are used to boost productivity.
Whereas first-generation chatbots are typically conceived as mere tools, the rhetoric around the new, more sophisticated agents positions them as fully-fledged digital employees.
As Microsoft puts it, “copilots are evolving from those that work with you to those that work for you.”
CEOs of AI Agents
Microsoft’s emphasis on AI workers echoes recent comments made by Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang.
In a podcast, Huang said he anticipates hundreds of millions of AI employees augmenting Nvidia’s future workforce.
Expanding on the transformative impact of greater AI autonomy, he said human workers are “going to be CEOs of AI agents,” overseeing teams of bots that will themselves be capable of delegating to other specialized agents.
Not Just Big Tech
Although companies like Microsoft and Nvidia spearhead autonomous AI, some of the biggest beneficiaries of the technology could be small businesses and freelancers, who might otherwise be restricted by limited personnel.
Speaking at the 2023 Robin Hood Investors Conference last year, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman predicted that as entrepreneurs become able to assign more tasks to AI agents without hiring additional staff, the first “one-person, billion-dollar company” would soon emerge.
Meanwhile, armies of autonomous bots could also make life easier for anyone working within Big Tech ecosystems.
Consider app development, for example. Former Google Brain researcher Bill Sun told CCN he believes the field is moving away from an API-based programming paradigm to one that relies more on inter-agent interactions.
Rather than integrating APIs one by one, he said developers will be able to tap an AI-powered “universal communication scheme” that could relieve some of the friction that has long plagued app development.
“It’s like if Xi Jinping wants to talk to Biden. They have two Secretary teams fly to meet and then negotiate to discuss all the details,” he said.
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