An artificial intelligence startup backed by Amazon and Google says it has created an artificial intelligence agent that can perform tasks on the computer, such as moving the mouse cursor and typing text.
US company Anthropic said its artificial intelligence model, called Claude, could now perform computing tasks including filling out forms, planning an outing and creating a website.
Autonomous AI agents are seen by technology companies and investors as a potentially lucrative development path for a technology whose capabilities have surprised users but which can cost billions of dollars to build and operate.
Anthropic, a competitor of ChatGPT owner OpenAI, is making the Claude 3.5 Sonnet model available to developers, but admitted it can be error-prone.
“At this stage, it is still experimental, sometimes cumbersome and error-prone,” the company said. “We’re launching PC usage early to get feedback from developers and expect the capability to improve quickly over time.”
anthropic has released a demo showing the model using a fictional employee’s computer to fill out a form, after being asked to perform the task using data from a spreadsheet and open on-screen tabs.
In other demonstrations, seen by the Financial Times and Wired, the AI agent planned and created a calendar appointment for a sunrise trip in San Francisco and created a simple website to promote itself.
Anthropic’s announcement came shortly after Microsoft launched a product that allows companies to build their own autonomous AI agents. Among the early adopters of the Copilot Studio product is consulting firm McKinsey, which is creating an agent to process new client inquiries by performing tasks such as scheduling follow-up meetings. Other early adopters include law firm Clifford Chance and retailer Pets at Home.
Anthropic and Microsoft talked about their products that reduce “tedious” work, such as filling out forms or dealing with customer queries. Microsoft said employees should view such tools as an “enabler” for workers rather than a threat to their jobs.
However, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), an international research body, has said that the occupations most at risk due to AI-driven automation are highly skilled jobs and account for about a quarter of employment. throughout your country. 38 member countriesincluding the United Kingdom, Japan, Germany, the United States and Australia.
Andrew Rogoyski, director of the Institute for Human-Centred AI at the University of Surrey, said the tech industry was now “teetering on the edge” of enabling the large-scale use of autonomous agents.
“At some level, there may be an opportunity for users to learn how to do things more efficiently and automate repetitive tasks. Otherwise, we may be teaching future AIs how to do our jobs,” he said.
