Virtual employees will join the workforce this year, potentially changing the way companies work, according to OpenAI’s chief executive.
The first artificially intelligent agents may start working in organizations this year, as AI companies push for uses that generate returns on their significant investments in the technology, writes Sam Altman.
Microsoft, ChatGPT’s biggest backer, has already announced the introduction of AI agents (tools that can autonomously perform tasks), and blue-chip consulting firm McKinsey is among the early adopters.
“We believe the first AI agents will ‘join the workforce’ in 2025, significantly changing the way companies produce,” Altman said in a blog post published Monday.
OpenAI released a code called “Operator” this month after Microsoft announced its Copilot Studio product and rival Anthropic introduced a Claude 3.5 Sonnet AI model that can perform tasks on a computer such as moving a mouse cursor and typing. It is reported that the company plans to release an AI agent that will be called by its name. Sentence.
For example, McKinsey is building agents to handle inquiries from new customers by performing tasks such as scheduling follow-up meetings. The consulting firm predicts that by 2030, activities accounting for up to 30% of labor time across the U.S. economy could be automated.
Bloomberg reported that operators use computers to perform actions on your behalf, such as writing codes and booking trips.
Last year, Microsoft’s head of AI, Mustafa Suleiman, suggested the company was moving toward agents that can make purchasing decisions, saying he had seen “amazing demonstrations” of agents executing trades independently. , said there was also a “moment of a car crash.” It is under development. But agents with these capabilities will emerge “within quarters, not years,” Suleiman said.
Before making agent predictions, Altman also wrote on his blog that OpenAI knows how to build artificial general intelligence (AGI). AGI is a theoretical term he has previously referred to as “AI systems that are generally smarter than humans.”
“We are now confident that we know how to build AGI as we have understood it so far,” he wrote, adding that OpenAI now aims its ambitions toward “superintelligence.” He added that there is.
“We love our current product, but we’re here for a bright future. With superintelligence, we can do other things, too,” he wrote.
“Hyperintelligent tools have the potential to vastly accelerate scientific discovery and innovation far beyond what we could do alone, resulting in vast increases in wealth and prosperity.”
Altman also participated in a Q&A with Bloomberg published this weekend, saying that Elon Musk will continue his feud with OpenAI this year, but that he is not using his relationship with Donald Trump to harm the company. I predicted that it would not be possible to give it.
sign up for today’s business
Get ready for work – Get the business news and analysis you need every morning
Privacy Notice: Newsletters may include information about charities, online advertising, and content sponsored by external parties. Please see our Privacy Policy for more information. We use Google reCaptcha to protect our website and are subject to the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service.
After newsletter promotion
Altman expects the world’s richest man to maintain a legal battle with OpenAI, but he also expects a cage fight with Musk, who asked meta Mark Zuckerberg to a mixed martial arts match in 2023. He said he downplayed the possibility of a challenge.
“I think he’s going to do all sorts of terrible things. I think he’s going to continue to sue us, drop lawsuits, file new lawsuits, etc.,” Altman told Bloomberg.
“He hasn’t challenged me to a cage match yet, but I don’t think he was that serious about competing against Zack either. At the end of the day, he’s said a lot, started, canceled, gotten sued, filed a lawsuit. , fight with the government, get investigated by the government. It’s just Elon being Elon.”
Musk withdrew his first lawsuit against OpenAI last June, but two months later he filed a new complaint that now also targets OpenAI’s biggest backer, Microsoft. The lawsuit accuses OpenAI of pursuing profit over safety and “actively seeking to exclude competitors.”
Mr. Musk and Mr. Altman have a rocky history. The two co-founded OpenAI in 2015, but Musk left the company a few years later, citing internal power struggles. OpenAI was founded with the goal of building AGI that is “safe and beneficial.”
Altman added that he does not expect Musk to use his influence within the incoming Trump administration to stall competitors such as OpenAI. Musk launched a new AI business, “xAI,” in 2023.
“Will he abuse the political power of being a co-president, or whatever they call it now, to interfere with a competitor in the business? I don’t think he would do that. I really don’t think that’s the case. “I might turn out to be wrong,” he said.
