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AI agents could pose fresh challenges, and new competition, for human employees as business leaders race to implement the tech.
Alex Zekoff, CEO and co-founder of Thoughtful AI, a startup that focuses on creating AI agents for healthcare, told Entrepreneur that AI agents unlock "a new era of technology."
What is an AI agent?
The difference between an AI chatbot like ChatGPT and an AI agent is that the latter can independently make decisions to meet a human-set goal — just like an employee. For example, AI agents in a call center could choose which questions to ask, and the right information and next steps, on a customer-by-customer basis.
"Human-capable AI agents are creating a future where workplaces are enhanced," Zekoff said, specifying that the technology could help with "anticipating staffing needs" and managing tasks.
Related: ChatGPT Is Writing Lots of Job Applications, But Companies Are Quickly Catching On
A testimonial on Thoughtful AI's website from Cara Perry, vice president of revenue cycle at Signature Dental Partners, said that an AI agent was "like training a perfect employee, that works 24 hours a day, exactly how you trained it."
Can an AI agent take your job?
The World Economic Forum estimated in 2020 that AI would displace 85 million jobs by next year while creating 97 million, though the estimates were made before ChatGPT was released in November 2022. ChatGPT passed the 180 million monthly user mark this year.
A February 2024 survey from Washington State University showed that nearly half of U.S. workers are worried about being left behind by advances in AI.
Meanwhile, businesses simultaneously appear eager to adopt ChatGPT. According to a recent Capgemini survey, over 4 in 5 business leaders plan on using AI agents to automate tasks like data analysis, code creation, and email writing in the next one to three years.
Zekoff said that though AI has advanced, it still has "significant challenges."
Related: What You Need to Know About 'AI Agents' and Why We Are One Step Closer to The Jetsons
"The real challenge lies in mitigating human biases that can influence AI systems," Zekoff said, adding that in sectors like healthcare and government especially, human bias could affect how fair and effective AI agents could be.
These concerns were also voiced by the European Commissioner for Competition, Margrethe Vestager, in 2023.
AI's risks are that people "will not be seen as who they are" and will be subject to automated bias, Vestager said, at the time.
AI has already been shown to produce inaccurate answers and images. The technology is under legal scrutiny for allegedly violating copyright laws and costs upwards of $100 million to train.
Related: Microsoft AI CEO Says Almost All Content on the Internet Is Fair Game for AI Training
