Not long ago, artificial intelligence seemed like something distant from everyday life. Today, AI is already integrated into the apps and services we use every day: it helps you search for information, edit texts, create images, and solve work-related tasks. Technology is gradually taking over more and more routine processes — both at work and in everyday life. For example, eSIM Plus allows you to take care of mobile connectivity in advance before traveling, without having to buy a physical SIM card when you arrive.
Now, AI is taking the next step — moving from a simple tool to a full-fledged assistant capable not only of executing individual commands but also of independently handling entire tasks.
AI Has Already Changed the Way We Work
Artificial intelligence has already transformed the workflows of people in a wide variety of professions. Most often, AI tools are used to save time and increase productivity.
For example, the Fishbowl company surveyed more than 11,700 workers, including employees of major tech companies such as Amazon, Google, Meta, and Twitter, to assess whether they use AI at work. 43% of respondents said they use AI to complete work-related tasks. Of these, 68% do not tell their managers about it.
However, managers are not opposed to this and sometimes even ask employees to integrate AI into their workflows. For example, the CEO and founder of Genies, a company that creates avatars, previously said that he had purchased ChatGPT Plus subscriptions for all 120 employees and urged them to make learning how to use the AI chatbot a priority so that they could “effectively speed up” the work of their respective departments.
Moreover, neural networks continue to improve, and ChatGPT is already capable of processing different types of information simultaneously and responding to users by generating text, converting it to speech, creating images, and more.
The Rise of AI-Powered Assistants
This transformation is happening right now. AI copilots, multifunctional digital assistants powered by AI, can be integrated into work or consumer software and assist users with routine tasks. Their distinctive feature is their ability to combine different sources and types of data and work with other services and applications.
AI assistants are already becoming part of familiar work programs. They help to complete routine tasks, work with information from various sources, and interact with other services and applications.
For example, Microsoft has integrated Copilot into its key productivity applications. In Word, the assistant can shorten text, change the tone, summarize documents, or draft a project proposal based on available data.
In Excel, AI can help predict changes when new data is entered and create charts. In PowerPoint, Copilot can generate a presentation based on a text prompt. In Outlook, the assistant can draft an email based on prompts, summarize email threads, draft newsletters, and more.
Another similar product is Adobe’s AI Assistant. It performs a wide range of tasks when working with PDF documents. It can summarize files and answer users’ questions about their content. The assistant can also help find specific information in the text or condense a large report into brief key points for use in emails, meetings, and presentations.
Adobe also plans to expand the capabilities of its AI Assistant. In the future, it should help users not only analyze documents but also create, edit, and format content. Zoom AI Companion can help users summarize the content of past video calls (not just one, but several recent ones at once), divide recorded meetings into topic-based sections, generate ideas on a shared virtual whiteboard, and group them by topic.
The Google Gemini, integrated into Google Chrome and connected to various services within the Google ecosystem, can provide brief summaries of documents stored in a user’s Google Drive and combine data from multiple sources. The assistant can also analyze complex images and, for example, generating a caption for a photo on social media, searching for similar images online, or identifying the brand of clothing or the make and model of a car from a photo.
When AI Moves Into the Real World
Developers around the world are working to integrate AI into our daily lives, and some of them, so far unsuccessfully, are even creating dedicated AI devices.
The startup Rabbit Inc. has created a portable AI device — a pocket-sized device called the R1. The company combines ChatGPT with its own model. The device has one large button. By pressing it, you can speak to the voice assistant. The assistant can access apps such as Uber, food delivery services, and online marketplaces. Another AI-based device was introduced by Humane: it’s a wearable voice assistant badge called AI Pin. AI Pin’s capabilities include information search, phone calls, translation, and analyzing food through its camera.
However, so far, individual AI-based devices haven’t been very successful. For example, reviewers have criticized AI Pin for being impractical: it’s quite large and heavy, cannot be concealed under clothing like a watch, and is not water-resistant.
From Digital Assistant to Autonomous Agent
Today, AI is still largely a set of smart tools in the hands of the user. It only performs the tasks that a person assigns to it. However, this is likely to change in the near future: researchers predict a new direction in the development of the technology over the next few years — this is what is known as agentic AI. This is artificial intelligence that, instead of being a tool in the hands of a human executor, becomes an autonomous agent capable of handling entire projects. For example, AI doesn’t just analyze data for an advertising campaign; it also plans the campaign itself, creates the campaign’s creative content, and publishes it on social media. At the same time, the employee does not write code but communicates with the AI using natural language.
As AI agents continue to develop, AI agents may significantly increase worker productivity. In the coming years, AI agents may reduce the time required to complete an average developer task by 56%. They can also relieve workers of routine tasks in healthcare (some solutions reduce the time medical staff spend on paperwork by 75%, freeing up two to three hours a day), law, and customer service.
Title: From Chatbots to AI Agents: How Artificial Intelligence Is Changing Work
Description: How AI is transforming workflows and becoming a personal assistant: from processing documents and creating content to independently completing tasks.
