Microsoft's AI 'Agents' Aim to Take over Many Human Duties
2024-12-03
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1Microsoft is expanding its artificial intelligence (AI) tool offerings to include "personal agents" which are designed to take over different human processes.
2The American software company said the new offerings are designed to help users complete certain business activities with little or no human involvement.
3The agents are expected to be offered to some users starting in the coming weeks.
4A full release is expected sometime next year.
5Microsoft has said its agents are designed to expand on so-called chatbots.
6A chatbot is an AI tool that can work by itself to produce human-level writing or discussion.
7Such systems - also known as generative AI - can also produce images and videos based on short text descriptions.
8While chatbots perform some functions on their own, they also depend heavily on humans to operate and guide them.
9The idea behind AI agents is to give them the ability to take over whole business processes with little or no guidance from people.
10In a statement last month, Microsoft said it was preparing for a world where every organization would have a collection of AI agents to perform different business activities.
11In another statement issued last week, the company said the agents being developed are designed to "operate around the clock" to ease the workload of human workers.
12Examples of agent duties include processing customer orders or returns and examining shipping records to prevent errors.
13Microsoft has moved quickly to offer AI technologies to everyday users of its business software products.
14The methods are largely based on models built by AI developer OpenAI, creator of the ChatGPT chatbot.
15Microsoft has invested about $13 billion in OpenAI.
16Microsoft's Chief Marketing Officer, Jared Spataro, said the public should "think of agents as the new apps for an AI-powered world."
17The company added that its customers will be able to use its Copilot Studio service to create their own AI agents to meet specific needs.
18Copilot is Microsoft's existing AI chatbot tool.
19In addition, the company said it has introduced 10 ready-to-use agents to carry out routine business activities.
20Charles Lamanna is the corporate vice president of business and industry for Copilot.
21He told Reuters news agency, "The idea is that Copilot is the user interface for AI."
22He added, "Every employee will have a Copilot, their personalized AI agent. And then they will use that Copilot to interface and interact with the sea of AI agents that will be out there."
23In an online explanation of the AI tools, Microsoft said "instead of just assisting you, agents can work alongside you or even on your behalf."
24This could include "a range of things, from responding to customer questions to more (complex) or multistep assignments," the company added.
25The abilities of AI agents remain limited for now. But ongoing development of the tools has raised concerns about certain risks linked to the technology.
26Microsoft officials have said the company had developed responsible AI guidelines to protect users from possible security or privacy problems.
27Other big technology companies also aim to develop such agents.
28These include Salesforce, Nvidia, Google and Oracle.
29Industry experts have said the tools could provide companies with an easier path to earn money from the billions of dollars they are investing in AI systems.
30I'm Bryan Lynn.
1Microsoft is expanding its artificial intelligence (AI) tool offerings to include "personal agents" which are designed to take over different human processes. 2The American software company said the new offerings are designed to help users complete certain business activities with little or no human involvement. The agents are expected to be offered to some users starting in the coming weeks. A full release is expected sometime next year. 3Microsoft has said its agents are designed to expand on so-called chatbots. A chatbot is an AI tool that can work by itself to produce human-level writing or discussion. Such systems - also known as generative AI - can also produce images and videos based on short text descriptions. 4While chatbots perform some functions on their own, they also depend heavily on humans to operate and guide them. The idea behind AI agents is to give them the ability to take over whole business processes with little or no guidance from people. 5In a statement last month, Microsoft said it was preparing for a world where every organization would have a collection of AI agents to perform different business activities. 6In another statement issued last week, the company said the agents being developed are designed to "operate around the clock" to ease the workload of human workers. Examples of agent duties include processing customer orders or returns and examining shipping records to prevent errors. 7Microsoft has moved quickly to offer AI technologies to everyday users of its business software products. The methods are largely based on models built by AI developer OpenAI, creator of the ChatGPT chatbot. Microsoft has invested about $13 billion in OpenAI. 8Microsoft's Chief Marketing Officer, Jared Spataro, said the public should "think of agents as the new apps for an AI-powered world." 9The company added that its customers will be able to use its Copilot Studio service to create their own AI agents to meet specific needs. Copilot is Microsoft's existing AI chatbot tool. In addition, the company said it has introduced 10 ready-to-use agents to carry out routine business activities. 10Charles Lamanna is the corporate vice president of business and industry for Copilot. He told Reuters news agency, "The idea is that Copilot is the user interface for AI." He added, "Every employee will have a Copilot, their personalized AI agent. And then they will use that Copilot to interface and interact with the sea of AI agents that will be out there." 11In an online explanation of the AI tools, Microsoft said "instead of just assisting you, agents can work alongside you or even on your behalf." This could include "a range of things, from responding to customer questions to more (complex) or multistep assignments," the company added. 12The abilities of AI agents remain limited for now. But ongoing development of the tools has raised concerns about certain risks linked to the technology. Microsoft officials have said the company had developed responsible AI guidelines to protect users from possible security or privacy problems. 13Other big technology companies also aim to develop such agents. These include Salesforce, Nvidia, Google and Oracle. Industry experts have said the tools could provide companies with an easier path to earn money from the billions of dollars they are investing in AI systems. 14I'm Bryan Lynn. 15The Associated Press, Reuters and Agence France-Presse and Microsoft reported this story. Bryan Lynn adapted the reports for VOA Learning English. 16________________________________________ 17Words in This Story 18agent - n. a person or system whose job it is to deal with business for someone else 19customer - n. a person or organization that buys goods or services from a shop or business 20routine - adj. a regular task that gets repeated over and over again 21interface - n. a connection between a person and a computer system 22on behalf (of someone) - phrase acting for someone else