OpenAI, during its first DevDay event, said 2025 would be the year “AI agents will work.” AI agents are virtual assistants that can perform myriad tasks, from fielding customer service calls to whipping up computer code, and we believe they represent more powerful evidence that society is on the cusp of true AI proliferation.
AI agents are not mere bots: Unlike “Clippy” (Microsoft’s annoyingly earnest word-processing companion), agents can learn and adapt based on shifts in context and sentiment, thanks to significant advancements in natural language processing and machine learning.
These sophisticated digital helpers are already infiltrating many corners of the traditional economy. Last July, JP Morgan rolled out its own AI agent designed to serve as a personalized “research analyst” able to help with writing, document summaries and idea generation. At Walmart, an “Ask Sam” agent assists in-store associates with all sorts of queries, from finding specific products to managing work schedules. And when the giant retailer trialed an AI agent to automate negotiations with suppliers, the clever bot reportedly closed deals with 64% of them while snagging an 83% approval rating.1
Large companies may soon have plenty of company as demand for efficiency-enhancing agents escalates. Software companies are now hard at work building in-app AI agents designed to simplify and accelerate AI adoption. Last month, Salesforce released Agentforce 2.0, its latest autonomous agent platform. Agentforce 2.0 helps enterprises scale up their digital workforces based on a library of pre-built skills. Customers (including Finnair, Wiley and SharkNinja) are embracing Agentforce to streamline their operations and unlock new capacity for growth.
We believe AI agents may soon be collaborating with each other. For example, chip design typically requires multiple teams of experts: Highly specialized AI agents could be combined to identify unseen patterns and develop new solutions; this AI-to-AI interaction, in our view, has the potential to revolutionize industry practices by analyzing vast data sets and optimizing performance.
By some estimates, the AI agent market is expected to grow at a 45% compounded annual rate, hitting $47 billion by 2030,2 creating potentially substantial benefits for companies and shareholders. Clippy can only blink in amazement.
