The key to harnessing agentic AI's full potential lies in striking the right balance between autonomy and human oversight, says Madhumay.

The introduction of ChatGPT brought the next wave of Artificial Intelligence (AI), which led to the rise of Chatbots. ChatGPT reached 100 Mn active users in just 2 months of its launch. It has the unique capability to generate contextual answers rather than sharing rule-based answers. This was able to surpass traditional search engine results. These chatbots are capable of leveraging LLMs to generate answers, create images, summarise documents, complete codes, and so on.

What is an AI Agent?

Moving on, the spotlight is shifting to AI Agents. AI Agents are an evolution beyond chatbots. They can solve complex problems on the user’s behalf. They can use websites, Schedule meetings, plan vacations, and more. AI agents can complete multiple steps without human intervention, unlike chatbots where human interaction is required at every step. This marks a shift from Passive Information Generators to Active Completion Agents.

Why the hype?

AI Agents were heralded in the last week of February 24, when a Buy Now, Pay Later Company, Klarna implemented autonomous agents in its customer service function in collaboration with Open AI. It brought great results in the first month of its implementation and that led Klarna to reduce its workforce from 5000 to 3800. Clara Shih, CEO of Salesforce AI, highlights a significant shift from generative AI to agentic AI, where these agents not only create content but also act autonomously. She envisions a future where AI agents can handle complex tasks, such as determining the best way to engage with customers, thereby transforming workplace dynamics and enhancing efficiency.

According to Zendesk, Unity, the world’s leading development platform for interactive real-time 3D content, deployed an AI agent to help its support team more efficiently manage ticket volumes and provide customers with immediate answers. By connecting with Unity’s knowledge base, the AI agent deflected 8,000 tickets, which resulted in $1.3 million in savings.

Where is it going?

However, these AI agents are in the early adoption phase, and they have some limitations. They cannot work across entire internet websites and unpredictable user interfaces. Mick Costigan, VP of Salesforce Futures, envisions a future where AI agents will operate alongside humans like a fleet of interns, performing repetitive tasks and improving overall productivity. He notes that as these agents evolve, they will increasingly interact with each other to drive efficiencies, enhancing collaborative efforts in the workplace. Nevertheless, there are significant hurdles to overcome. Experts point out that the current technology must be substantially refined before users can fully trust AI agents to handle critical tasks autonomously.

AI Agents are increasing in number in horizontal as well as vertical applications. More than 50+ Startups are operating in agents, agentic workflows, and agent infrastructure, according to CB Insights. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman has described agents as “AI’s killer function” as recently as May 2024.

Outlook?

The key to harnessing agentic AI's full potential lies in striking the right balance between autonomy and human oversight. By developing these systems thoughtfully and with a keen eye on ethical implications, we can create AI agents that augment human capabilities rather than replace them.

Source: Zendesk, CB Insights, Altar.Io

Article Courtesy: NASSCOM Community – an open knowledge sharing platform for the Indian technology industry: https://community.nasscom.in/communities/digital-transformation/rise-ai-agents

Madhumay is Deputy Manager – Research at NASSCOM. His areas of interest include emerging technology, digital twin, Industry 4.0, and deeptech, among others.

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