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The first phase of AI was predictive, the second was generative. Now the third wave is here: autonomous AI agents that can not only recommend actions but can reason and tackle multi-faceted projects without requiring human oversight at every step.

By 2027, half of companies that use GenAI will have launched AI agents, according to Deloitte.

“This is a trend,” Cathy Li, the World Economic Forum’s Head, AI, Data and Metaverse and Deputy Head of Center for Fourth Industrial Revolution (C4IR), said in an interview with The Innovator. “It is already here so we need make sure we think about the ramifications.”

To that end, the Forum and Capgemini published a new white paper on December 16 titled Navigating the AI Frontier: A Primer on the Evolution and Impact of AI Agents.
AI agent’s ability to manage complex tasks with minimal human intervention offers the promise of significantly increased efficiency and productivity, says the white paper. Additionally, the application of AI agents could play a crucial role in addressing the shortfall of skills in various industries, filling the gaps in areas where human expertise is lacking or in high demand. As the technology progresses AI agents are expected to be able to tackle open-ended, real-world challenges such as helping in scientific discovery, improving the efficiency of complex systems like supply chains or electrical grids, managing non-routine processes that are too infrequent to justify traditional automation, or enabling physical robots that can manipulate objects and navigate physical environments.

But AI agents also pose certain risks. Read on to learn more.

As the year draws to a close it is natural to think about how 2025 will unfold. And, it is important to take a longer-term view to think about how each of us want to shape the future, argues Chris Luebkeman, the leader of the Strategic Foresight Hub in the Office of the President at ETH Zurich (the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich).
That’s why he co-founded (Y)our 2040, a community driven think-tank, network-of-networks and platform focused on the future, with business partner Jonelle Simunich, a fellow at the Edinburgh Futures Institute.
They host a unique annual gathering which takes place in La Punt Chamues-ch, a small Swiss Alpine village 1,687 meters above sea level in the middle of the Engadine Valley. There they gather 100 handpicked people from a variety of backgrounds, ages, profesisons and geographies from near and far to talk about what participants want the world to look like in the year 2040 and outline what actions need to happen to help their visions become reality.
Luebkeman and Simunich want to translate the process they have developed for creating desirable futures into a toolkit that can be used anywhere in the word with any community or group of people to help them better understand and prepare for their future. Their goal is to engage 25 million people in over 50 countries between now and the year 2040.

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Next Dim's AI-powered technology automates discovery of suspicious patterns within large networks of financial transactions. It can also identify when social networks are being manipulated and help corporates and states better understand whether they are targeted by hostile influence campaigns. The Israeli startup's clients include medium to large financial institutions, payment companies, credit card companies, crypto exchanges as well as central banks, tax authorities, law enforcement, homeland security and defense agencies.

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Size of AI and data company Databrick's new funding round, which values the company at $62 billion, more than either VW or BMW, two of Germany's largest auto companies. Databricks, which was founded in 2013 and provides software tools for storing and analyzing large amounts of online data, also helps teams build compound AI systems that can take actions such as opening/closing support tickets, responding to emails and make reservations. To this end, the company unveiled a new suite of products in 2024, including support for fine-tuning foundation models, a catalog for AI tools and offerings for building and evaluating AI agents.