By Katie Paul

New York – Autonomous Agents and Profitability

Autonomous "agents" and profitability are likely to dominate the artificial intelligence agenda next year, business executives and researchers predicted this week in interviews at the Reuters NEXT conference in New York.

Emergence of Agents

Agents, or systems that can perform actions like making purchases and scheduling meetings on people's behalf without their direct involvement, have long been an elusive goal for AI researchers. However, such capabilities were likely to be enabled by the emergence this year of step-by-step reasoning approaches like those used in OpenAI's o1 model, the executives told Reuters.

Predictions for 2025

OpenAI CFO Sarah Friar stated, "I think we are going to see a lot of motion next year around agents, and I think people are going to be surprised at how fast this technology comes at us." She believes 2025 will focus on agents that assist with daily tasks and predicts that artificial general intelligence (AGI) will be achieved in the shorter term.

Advancements in AI Capabilities

George Mathew, managing director at Insight Partners, noted advancements in reasoning capabilities are already reimagining back-office and front-office functions. For instance, Relevance AI offers digital sales teams that can replace human workers at a quarter of the labor cost.

Shift to Profitability

Another venture capitalist, Molly Alter at Northzone, suggested that 2025 would be "the year of profitability for AI," shifting the focus from revenue growth to enhancing margins through AI solutions.

Integration in Major Businesses

Executives from major banks noted they are moving beyond experimentation and integrating AI into their workflows. BNY CEO Robin Vince mentioned that thousands of employees are now empowered to build and commission LLM-fueled agents to assist them in their daily tasks, resulting in better insights and solutions for clients.

To view the Reuters NEXT news page, go to: Reuters NEXT