Software Sector Switches Focus From AI Copilots to AI Agents

Have artificial intelligence (AI) copilots been unseated by AI agents?

The world’s software giants seem to be making that case, the Financial Times (FT) reported Sunday (Sept. 22).

According to that report Microsoft, Salesforce and Workday have all within the last week placed agents at the core of their AI plans, with Oracle and ServiceNow trumpeting the idea at recent industry conferences.

While copilots — a term popularized by Microsoft to describe AI assistants — have flourished following the popularity of ChatGPT, agents are designed to take things further.

“AI agents are sophisticated software programs designed to perform tasks or provide services autonomously for humans or businesses,” PYMNTS noted in a report on the topic earlier this year. “They’re becoming increasingly important in commerce, handling complex operations from managing supply chains to booking travel arrangements.”

Assuming the industry is correct, the FT added, moving from copilots to agents could usher in “a far more disruptive phase” in the evolution of  generative AI, both for workers and tech firms.

However, the software industry is still in “‘show me’ mode on copilots or AI agents,” Jim Tierney, a growth stock investor at AllianceBernstein, told the FT.

“It is still an open question exactly how this is going to be monetized,” he added.

Meanwhile, Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff said in an interview with the FT that there was a lack of traction for copilots.

“Microsoft has deceived customers with their AI strategy, they don’t need to DIY it,” he said. “We build it into our platform, customers shouldn’t be forced to train and retrain their models.”

In related news, PYMNTS wrote last month about Skyfire, a startup working to solve what it calls a major AI-related challenge: allowing agents to independently manage financial transactions. The company’s platform enables AI agents to hold balances, send and receive payments, and carry out financial transactions with humans and other AI entities.

“The next million customers for a lot of enterprises is going to be an AI agent,” Amir Sarhangi, CEO and co-founder of Skyfire, told PYMNTS. “Enterprises have to figure out very quickly how to sell their services to an AI agent versus a human being.”

Agents, he added, “are starting to take some of the mundane work that you do and are doing that on your behalf.” 

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