AI Agent · OpenAI · Meta · CNBC Technology
The next time someone's supercharged AI agent attempts to make a phone call to negotiate a cable bill
Compiled by KHAO Editorial — aggregated from 1 source. See llms.txt for citation guidance.
◌ Single Source
That's because AI agents, powered by the bleeding-edge foundation models developed by companies like Meta and OpenAI, still can't reliably take actions across the web, particularly those involving phone calls.
Key facts
- Shivani Poddar, CEO of personal AI agent startup Wajo AI, is also incorporating human workers to handle phone calls and even CAPTCHA tests intended to fend off bots from sites
- Duckbill's Joyce said her startup does "full background checking" into the 1099 contractors it uses, comparing them to drivers for Uber and DoorDash, "people who live here in the United States
- Companies making agents can use Duckbill's API to delegate the tasks that the agent is likely to fumble
- Mayer said that AI models can still lack common sense
Summary
The next time someone's supercharged AI agent attempts to make a phone call to negotiate a cable bill, it could be an actual human who haggles with customer service rather than the software. "We're relying on the frontier models to give us good suggestions and a good candidate list, but we're checking that over to make sure that we're delivering the type of service that we can stand behind," Mayer said, referring to how Dazzle funnels certain tasks to human contractors. Digital assistants driven by artificial intelligence are currently gaining renewed interest thanks to Meta, OpenAI and others that are pitching the technology as capable of tasks like scouting the internet for shoes.