A.I. Agents Are Here: What Are They and Will They Take Away Human Jobs?

Imagine having an A.I. assistant that knows you so well that it can handle your everyday tasks without you lifting a finger—scheduling meetings, sending emails, or even shopping online. That’s the vision behind OpenAI’s latest innovation, Operator. Instead of just providing text-based responses, the A.I. model, scheduled for release in January 2025, can directly control computers and handle complex tasks, including booking travel, browsing the web and writing code. Operator marks a major step in “agentic A.I.,” autonomous systems that can take action and complete tasks without human oversight. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman hailed agentic A.I. as the “next giant breakthrough” during a recent Reddit AMA. 

“Agentic A.I.-powered systems can retain user context and memory, enabling more natural and continuous interactions without the need to reintroduce information,” Yang Yuanqing, CEO of Lenovo Group, told Observer last month during an interview at the Lenovo Tech World event in Seattle. “These autonomous systems build a unique private knowledge base within consumer devices that can adapt to individual needs and enhance productivity without requiring any technical expertise to operate.”

Lenovo is one of many tech companies joining this race. The PC maker recently announced “AI Now”, an agentic A.I. system built on Meta’s Llama 3.1 that promises to make PCs smarter by transforming them into personalized digital assistants. AI Now can autonomously edit documents, transcribe meetings and even adjust device settings through voice commands and gestures—all without needing an internet connection.

“The context retention capabilities of agentic A.I. systems allow us to deliver a more intuitive and personalized user experience,” Yang said. “Our A.I. model learns from individual behaviors and preferences while securely storing this knowledge on the device to ensure privacy and relevance.” 

OpenAI’s direct rivals, including Anthropic, Microsoft, Google (GOOGL) and Salesforce, are also racing to develop next-generational A.I. agents.

Microsoft recently unveiled its autonomous A.I. agents for business, integrated with its Dynamics 365 platform, aimed at automating tasks across sales, finance and supply chains. Salesforce launched Agentforce, which enables businesses to create customized A.I. agents for marketing, customer service and IT. Anthropic, meanwhile, introduced Claude 3.5 Sonnet, an agentic A.I. capable of controlling computers and performing advanced coding and computing tasks. 

“The rise of agentic A.I. in fields like IT is pushing organizations to adapt,” Shruti Dhumak, a senior customer engineer at Google, told Observer. “We’ll soon see a shift from humans primarily executing tasks to orchestrating them, working alongside A.I. agents to tackle more complex goals. Companies will need to invest heavily in A.I. talent and possibly rethink their team structures, with new roles centered on human-AI collaboration emerging.”

Could “agentic A.I.” take away human jobs?

With great power comes great disruption. A.I. agents might take on roles that were once solely reserved for humans. “There will be an initial impact on the job market, with low-skilled, repetitive tasks like customer service being phased out,” Nish Krishna, co-founder of the agentic A.I. development platform Fractionalize, told Observer. “Even roles requiring intermediate skills, such as programming and some healthcare positions will feel the effects.” 

Krishna cautioned that the short-term effects could be harsh, especially for older workers, some of whom may struggle to re-enter the workforce. “The workspace may be impacted as companies spend more in the coming years rethinking responsibilities for consumption by A.I. agents,” he said.

Some experts say it’s too early to worry. “The notion of fully autonomous A.I., as promoted by leaders like Sam Altman, overlooks the vast workforces required to power these systems,” Annie Brown, an A.I. researcher at UC San Diego, told Observer.

Peter Wang, chief A.I. innovation officer and co-founder of Anaconda, the world’s largest data science tool provider, believes that, while the rise of A.I. agents may make some jobs obsolete, it will also create new opportunities. “The workplace dynamic will shift from collaboration being strictly human-to-human to evolving into one that includes human-to-agent partnership,” he told Observer.

To stay competitive, workers must learn how to leverage A.I. tools for specific tasks and industries, and businesses must make proactive investments in education to help workers adapt, Wang said. “These investments could include continuous learning programs that combine technical skills, like data literacy and API integration, with agility and problem-solving.”