What’s next after bots? Say hello to autonomous AI agents

Today’s question: How can you get AI to actually do work? 

Generative AI is great at, well, generating text and other media, but when it comes to work tasks, how do you shift from talk to action? AI agents promise to bridge the gap between the language and reasoning capabilities of LLMs and the practical needs of business users.

This post explains how they work, and how they’ll change the way you work.

Books every AI enthusiast should read 

Looking for a scintillating and enlightening beach read as the summer winds down? These 5 essential books on AI explore the forces shaping the hottest sector in tech, and how it will impact our everyday lives now and in the near future. The list includes books from academics, venture capitalists, entrepreneurs, and more. 

What our community is saying 

“Agentic AI offers numerous benefits, which include enhanced productivity, automating routine tasks and decisions, improved accuracy, personalized customer experiences, tailored interactions and recommendations, and my favorite - proactive issue resolution: Identifying and addressing potential problems before they escalate.” 

— ThankGod Onyekachukwu Okoro , Salesforce administrator, Rosetti Pivot Ltd

What we’re reading 

• After successfully deploying AI to flag service disruptions, Kraft Heinz is working to build a fully autonomous supply chain. The company hopes AI will help it better anticipate and meet demand. ( Business Insider )
• In a significant milestone for autonomous vehicles, self-driving taxi service Waymo will begin all-day curbside pick-up and drop-off service at Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport . ( WIRED )
• Since most generative AI models share a lot of the same training data, a U.K. think tank suggests AI companies should create a common data pool. ( diginomica )

This newsletter was curated by Lisa DiCarlo Lee , Contributing Editor at Salesforce.

What’s the biggest question you have about AI? Let us know in the comments. We read each one and may just feature yours in a future newsletter!