Marc Benioff, the CEO of the American cloud computing software company Salesforce, recently stated on The Wall Street Journal's podcast "The Future of Everything" that the future of artificial intelligence lies in autonomous agents, rather than chatbots powered by large language models (LLMs). He pointed out that we are currently at the limits of what large language models can achieve.
Benioff mentioned that in recent years, there has been excessive enthusiasm for ChatGPT, leading the average consumer to believe that the capabilities of AI far exceed reality. He believes that large language models are not the key to technological advancement, and that the future development of AI should focus on autonomous agents that can perform tasks independently. For example, these agents can handle sales communications or marketing activities, thereby improving company efficiency.
Salesforce has already begun to realize this vision by launching pre-built AI agents for customer service automation. Benioff emphasized that these tools can enhance employee productivity, increase corporate profits and revenues, and strengthen the relationship between companies and their customers. He also expressed caution about the current overhype surrounding AI capabilities, especially the exaggerated claims made by overly optimistic "AI evangelists" and "AI advocates," which he believes seriously mislead corporate clients.
Benioff pointed out that companies should leverage these technologies to enhance their competitiveness rather than be misled by unrealistic visions. He believes that companies that can effectively apply autonomous agent technology will stand out in market competition. Additionally, OpenAI is preparing to launch an agent called "Operator" in January 2025, which can independently perform tasks such as writing code or booking travel. Meanwhile, one of the world's largest companies, Nvidia, is also driving this trend, with CEO Jensen Huang stating that the adoption of autonomous agents by enterprises is rapidly increasing.
Key Points:
🌟 Benioff believes that large language models have reached their limits and that the future should shift towards autonomous agent technology.
🤖 Salesforce has launched AI agents to enhance customer service automation and corporate efficiency.
💡 Companies like OpenAI and Nvidia are actively developing autonomous agent technology, driving market transformation.
