Microsoft Unveils AI 'Agents' at Ignite 2024
Microsoft introduces AI 'agents' at the Ignite 2024 conference. AI developers are focused on creating autonomous agents for a variety of tasks. Concerns are raised about the high costs associated with AI tool development.
These AI "agents" are positioned as the next generation of generative AI chatbots, capable of performing a broader range of tasks to assist individuals. However, the high costs of developing and maintaining AI tools have sparked investor concerns about the technology's potential.
Microsoft envisions a future in which every organisation will use a variety of agents, ranging from basic prompt-and-response mechanisms to fully autonomous entities. These self-sufficient agents are intended to operate continuously, handling tasks such as reviewing and approving customer returns or scrutinising shipping invoices to prevent supply-chain errors
The emphasis on "agentic AI" at the Ignite conference reflects a growing recognition of the limitations of existing large language models that power chatbots such as OpenAI's ChatGPT, Google's Gemini, and Microsoft's Copilot. While these systems excel at certain writing-related tasks such as predicting the next word in a sentence, the emphasis is now on developing AI tools capable of long-term planning, reasoning, and autonomous task execution on behalf of users.
Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff criticised Microsoft's emphasis on AI agents, particularly its Copilot AI assistant. Benioff saw Microsoft's rebranding of Copilot as 'agents' as a sign of panic, describing Copilot as inaccurate and vulnerable to data leaks. Salesforce, a competitor in the AI space, also provides its own AI service called "Agentforce" for sales, marketing, and other business purposes.
Microsoft introduces AI 'agents' at Ignite 2024 conference
AI developers focus on creating autonomous agents for diverse tasks
Concerns arise over the high costs associated with AI tool development
Source: AP NEWS