AI Agents Are Here. How Much Should We Let Them Do?


Should I set up a personal AI agent to help with my daily tasks?

—Searching for Assistance

As a general rule, I think relying on any kind of automation in your daily life is dangerous when taken to the extreme and potentially alienating even when used in moderation, especially with regards to personal interactions. An AI agent that organizes my task list and gathers online links for further reading? Fabulous. An AI agent that automatically messages my parents every week with a quick life update? Horrific.

The strongest argument for not involving more generative AI tools into your daily routine, however, remains the environmental impact these models continue to have during training and output generation. With all of that in mind, I dug through WIRED’s archive, published during the glorious dawn of this mess we call the internet, to find more historical context for your question. After searching for a bit, I came back convinced you’re likely already using AI agents every single day.

The idea of AI agents, or God-forbid “agentic AI,” is the current buzzword du jour for every tech leader who’s trying to hype their recent investments. But the concept of an automated assistant dedicated to completing software tasks is far from a fresh idea. So much of the discourse around “software agents” in the 1990s mirrors the current conversation in Silicon Valley, where leaders at tech companies now promise an incoming flood of generative AI-powered agents trained to do online chores on our behalf.

“One problem I see is that people will question who is responsible for the actions of an agent,” reads a WIRED interview with MIT Media Lab professor Pattie Maes, originally published in 1995. “Especially things like agents taking up too much time on a machine or purchasing something you don’t want on your behalf. Agents will raise a lot of interesting issues, but I’m convinced we won’t be able to live without them.”

I called Maes early in January to hear how her perspective on AI agents has changed over the years. She’s as optimistic as ever about the potential for personal automation, but she’s convinced that “extremely naive” engineers are not spending enough time addressing the complexities of human-computer interactions. In fact, she says, their recklessness could induce another AI winter.

“The way these systems are built, right now, they’re optimized from a technical point of view, an engineering point of view,” she says. “But, they’re not at all optimized for human-design issues.” She focuses on how AI agents are still easily tricked or resort to biased assumptions, despite improvements to the underlying models. And a misplaced confidence leads users to trust answers generated by AI tools when they shouldn’t.

To better understand other potential pitfalls for personal AI agents, let’s break the nebulous term into two distinct categories: those that feed you and those that represent you.

Feeding agents are algorithms with data about your habits and tastes that search through swaths of information to find what’s relevant to you. Sounds familiar, right? Any social media recommendation engine filling a timeline with tailored posts or incessant ad tracker showing me those mushroom gummies for the thousandth time on Instagram could be considered a personal AI agent. As another example from the ’90s interview, Maes mentioned a news-gathering agent fine-tuned to bring back the articles she wanted. That sounds like my Google News landing page.



Source link

Share

Latest Updates

Frequently Asked Questions

Related Articles

TikTok returns on Apple, Google app stores as Donald Trump delays ban

TikTok returned on the US app stores of Apple and Google on Thursday,...

Confused Senator Rages That Self-Driving Cars Are Woke

Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) believes that topics as diverse as solar eclipses and self-driving...

AI’s biggest obstacle? Data reliability. Astronomer’s new platform tackles the challenge

Join our daily and weekly newsletters for the latest updates and exclusive content...
SULTAN88
SULTANSLOT
RAJA328
JOIN88
GFC88
HOKIBET
RUSIASLOT88
TAHU69
BONANZA99
PRAGMABET
MEGA55
LUXURY777
LUXURY333
BORJU89
QQGAMING
KEDAI168
MEGA777
NAGASLOT777
TAKSU787
KKSLOT777
MAS77TOTO
bandar55
BOS303
HOKI99
NUSA365
YUHUSLOT
KTP168
GALAXY138
NEXIA138
PETIR33
BOOM138
MEGA888
CABE888
FOSIL777
turbospin138
KAPAKBET
SUPERJP
sultankoin99
dragon88
raffi888
kenzobet
aladin666
rgo365
ubm4d
GERCEP88
VIVA99
CR777
VOXY88
delman567
intan69
CABE888
RNR303
LOGO303
PEMBURUGACOR
mpo383
cermin4d
bm88
ANGKA79
WOWHOKI
ROKET303
MPOXL
GURITA168
SUPRASLOT
SGCWIN
DESA88
ARWANA388
DAUNEMAS
ALADDIN666
BIOWIN69
SKY77
DOTA88
NAGA138
API5000
y200m
PLAYBOOK88
LUXURY12
A200M
MPO700
KENANGAN4D
cakrabola
PANDAGENDUT
MARVEL77
UG300
HOKI178
MONTE77
JASABOLA
UNTAR4D
LIDO88
MAFIABOLA77
GASPOL189
mpo999
untung138
TW88
JAGUAR33
MPOBOS
SHIO88
VIVO4D
MPOXL
JARISAKTI
BBO303
AONCASH
ANGKER4D
LEVIS4D
JAGO88
REPUBLIK365
BOSDEAL88
BOLA168
akunjp
WARTEGBET
EZEBET
88PULSA
KITAB4D
BOSDEAL88
STUDIOBET
MESINKOIN
BIMA88
PPNUSA
ABGBET88
TOP77
BAYAR77
YES77
BBTN4D
BBCA4D
VSLOTS88
MPO800
PAHALA4D
KPI4D
JURAGAN77
QQ188
BOLAPELANGI
C200M
QQ998
GWKTOGEL
MEGABANDAR
COLOWIN
VIP579
SEVEN4D
MPO188
DEWATA88
SURAT4D
SINAR123
LAMBO77
GUDANG4D
AWAN4D
PLANETLIGA
GT88
ROYALSPIN88
MAMAJITU
MITO99
PEDIA4D
WIBU69JP
333HOKI
SIDARMA88
NAGAEMAS99
HOLA88
CAKAR76
KINGTOTO
RATUGAMING
SSI168
PILAR168
ACTOTO
EYANGTOGEL
KAISAR328
SLOT628
KAISAR88
DOTA88
MAXWIN369
ALIBABA99
MM168
SQUAD777
NAGABET88
JAYABOLA
SEMPATIGAME
PANDAJAGO
PIKAT4D
SINGA77
YUYU33
MASTERPLAY99
VICTORY39
NASA4D
PERMATA55
SAKAUSLOT
CK303
MPOTOWER
CIPUTRABET
WINJUDI
DEWI5000
IYA777
MAHIRTOTO
GOSLOT88
TIPTOP4D
RAJA787
JBO680
JOKER188
EPICPLAY88
TRIVABET
KAISAR189
JOKER81
JPSPIN88
MAYORA4D
DJARUMPLAY
OVO88
BAKTI78
WINGSLOT77
ICAFE4D
PDTOTO
JETPLAY88
PORN VIDEO
https://link.space/@Hikaribet
https://bio.site/Hikaribet
https://heylink.me/Hikaribet39
CMBET88
CMBET88
didascaliasdelteatrocaminito.com
glenellynrent.com
gypsumboardequipment.com
realseller.org
https://harrysphone.com/upin
gyergyoalfalu.ro/tokek
vipokno.by/gokil
winjospg.com
winjos801.com/
www.logansquarerent.com
internationalfintech.com/bamsz
condowizard.ca
jawatoto889.com
hikaribet3.live
hikaribet1.com
heylink.me/hikaribet
www.nomadsumc.org
condowizard.ca/aromatoto
euro2024gol.com
www.imaracorp.com
daftarsekaibos.com
stuffyoucanuse.org/juragan
Toto Macau 4d
Aromatoto
Lippototo
Mbahtoto
Winjos
152.42.229.23
bandarlotre126.com
heylink.me/sekaipro
www.get-coachoutletsonline.com
wholesalejerseyslord.com
Lippototo
Zientoto
Lippototo
Situs Togel Resmi
Fajartoto
Situs Togel
Toto Macau
Winjos
Winlotre
Aromatoto
design-develop-test.com
winlotre.online
winlotre.xyz
winlotre.us
winlotrebandung.com
winlotrepalu.com
winlotresurabaya.shop
winlotrejakarta.com
winlotresemarang.shop
winlotrebali.shop
winlotreaceh.shop
winlotremakmur.com
Dadu Online
Taruhantoto
a Bandarlotre
bursaliga
lakitoto
aromatoto
Rebahin
untungslot.pages.dev
slotpoupler.pages.dev
rtpliveslot88a.pages.dev
tipsgameslot.pages.dev
pilihslot88.pages.dev
fortuertiger.pages.dev
linkp4d.pages.dev
linkslot88a.pages.dev
slotpgs8.pages.dev
markasjudi.pages.dev
saldo69.pages.dev
slotbenua.pages.dev
saingtoto.pages.dev
markastoto77.pages.dev
jowototo88.pages.dev
sungli78.pages.dev
volatilitas78.pages.dev
bonusbuy12.pages.dev
slotoffiline.pages.dev
dihindari77.pages.dev
rtpdislot1.pages.dev
agtslot77.pages.dev
congtoto15.pages.dev
hongkongtoto7.pages.dev
sinarmas177.pages.dev
hours771.pages.dev
sarana771.pages.dev
kananslot7.pages.dev
balitoto17.pages.dev
jowototo17.pages.dev
aromatotoding.com
unyagh.org
fairparkcounseling.com/gap/
impress-newtex.com/ajax/
SULTAN88
SULTANSLOT
RAJA328
JOIN88+
HOKIBET
GFC88
RusiaSlot88
Tahu69
BONANZA99
Pragmabet
mega55
luxury777
luxury333
borju89
qqgaming
KEDAI168
mega777
nagaslot777
TAKSU787
kkslot777
MAS77TOTO
BANDAR55+
BOS303
Login-HOKI99/
NUSA365
YUHUSLOT
ktp168
GALAXY138