Intelligent Agents: the transformative AI trend for 2024

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As we move into 2024, the spotlight in AI will increasingly be on Intelligent Agents. As outlined in the influential paper by Wooldridge and Jennings (1995), agents are conceptualized as systems with autonomy, social ability, reactivity, and pro-activeness. Their evolution signifies a shift from mere tools to entities that can perceive, interact, and take initiative in their environments, aligning with the vision of AI as a field aiming to construct entities exhibiting intelligent behaviour.

The fusion of theory and practice in agent development is critical. Agent theories focus on conceptualizing and reasoning about agents' properties, architectures translate these theories into tangible systems, and languages provide the framework for programming these agents. This triad underpins the development of agents that range from simple automated processes to systems embodying human-like attributes such as knowledge, belief, and intention.

Ethan Mollick's exploration of GPTs (Generative Pre-trained Transformers) as interfaces to intelligent agents adds a contemporary dimension to this conversation. GPTs, in their current state, demonstrate the foundational capabilities for agent development - from structured prompts facilitating diverse tasks to integration with various systems. As envisioned by Wooldridge, Jennings, and Mollick, the future points towards agents integrated with a myriad of systems capable of tasks like managing expense reports or optimizing financial decisions.

Yet, this promising future has its challenges. The road to developing fully autonomous intelligent agents is fraught with technical and ethical considerations. Issues like logical omniscience in agent reasoning, the relationship between intention and action, and managing conflicting intentions remain unresolved. Mollick raises concerns about the vulnerabilities and risks in an increasingly interconnected AI landscape.

The explosion in Agents will be fuelled, like throwing gasoline on a fire, by the opening of OpenAI's GPT store sometime in early 2024. Many online pundits will think "agents" are a new thing! But as this post shows, the ideas and vast body of AI research dates back to the mid-1990s and early 2000s; as exemplified by The Trading Agents Competition.

Intelligent Agents represent a transformative trend in AI for 2024 and beyond. Their development, grounded in a combination of theoretical and practical advancements, paves the way for a future where AI is not just a tool but a proactive, interactive, and intelligent entity. 

Beyond Siri: the future of mobile devices and search

An interesting blog post from Lars Hard the founder and CEO of the the AI platform Expertmaker, called Beyond Siri: What AI means for the future of mobile devices and search. To make this future more real consider a few simple examples. Your intelligent agent on your phone, Siri 2.0 perhaps, says to you, "The Wine Boutique has just announced a special offer on the new vintage of your favorite label. Would you like me to reserve half a case for you?" Or Facebook might say, "Your sister is trying to organise a family get-together, you're free Sunday week, shall I tell her?" Or, perhaps Tripit 4.0 will say something like "There is a storm gathering over the Midwest. It looks like your flight will be delayed. Would you like me to book a hotel room now for this evening, and an alternate flight out first thing tomorrow?"
   These are all individually possible now, but collectively they could become very useful. It's not a new idea though. When Siri was launched, I commented in this post that Apple had envisaged this back in 1987. Of course then they didn't imagine the technology would be mobile and hence even more useful. Watch the video but image the Knowledge Navigator working on your phone.