In a week where IBM Corp., ServiceNow Inc. and Nutanix Inc. headlined artificial intelligence (AI) news, it turns out they were just warmup acts.
A cacophony of other tech companies dove into the fray, unveiling everything from generative AI search tools and AI-powered glucose tracking to cloud-based “AI employees” (another phrase for AI agents).
Netflix Inc. on Wednesday unveiled a new AI-powered search using OpenAI’s ChatGPT in which customers can enter their preferences using general phrases such as, “I want something funny and upbeat” or more specific prompts like, “I want something scary, but not too scary, and maybe a little bit funny, but not haha funny.” The feature is expected to be available this week for iOS users as an opt-in beta.
Netflix also mentioned its intent to use GenAI to update title cards in subscribers’ preferred languages, but did not offer a timeframe for release.
LinkedIn’s own GenAI play, also on Wednesday, would let users find job listings by describing their ideal role. An AI-assisted search bar offers job-posting results based on natural language descriptions, such as “find me entry-level brand manager roles in fashion.”
“AI is changing the way we work, and job search on LinkedIn will completely change the way people find their next opportunity,” Zara Easton, a career expert at LinkedIn, said in a statement. “Our hope is that this way of discovering roles — and even new careers — will bring together job seekers’ skills, interests, and aspirations to find their next step.”
On Wednesday, SAS announced the addition of AI agents, copilots, and synthetic data tools to its Viya platform. The company provided governance resources as well.
Oura Health, known for the Oura Ring smart ring used to track sleep and physical activity, on Tuesday unfurled AI features for glucose tracking and meal logging. Earlier this year, Oura inked a strategic partnership with Dexcom, maker of an over-the-counter Stelo continuous glucose monitor. The meals logging feature taps into the Oura Advisor chatbot, which relies on GenAI to assess an user’s long-term data and trends.
Startup Signals debuted Wednesday with an AI-based Cloud Employee Platform designed to aid companies in automating client-facing interactions across sales, marketing, customer service and human resources tasks. The platform deploys so-called cloud-based “AI employees” — OK, AI agents — that integrate with company systems and provide business context.
Another AI upstart, FutureHouse, on Tuesday released a tool called Finch that it says supports data-driven discovery in biology. The nonprofit, backed by former Google CEO Eric Schmidt, aspires to build an “AI scientist” within the next decade.
The tool collects biology data, produces a prompt, and then runs code before generating figures and results. FutureHouse CEO Sam Rodriques compared Finch’s capabilities to a “1st yr grad student” in a post on social-media platform X.
The flood of AI-related announcements over several days, while overwhelming for many discerning chief intelligence officers, is likely to accelerate in coming weeks with even more scheduled news and AI-themed conferences, according to AI analysts and experts. The tech free-for-all has paralleled a gold rush of sorts in an AI wave expected to generate trillions of dollars in productivity and cost savings. ServiceNow pegs the agentic AI market at $5 billion to $41 billion within a few years.
In fact, 78% of companies use AI in at least one business function, up from 55% last year, according to McKinsey. Another study, by Salesforce Inc., estimates one in four people will be reassigned to a new job as AI is widely adopted in the workplace, particularly through the adoption of AI agents.
“Over the last few years, we have discussed the AI Revolution constantly as in our opinion it represents the biggest tech transformation in over 40 years,” Wedbush Securities analyst Dan Ives wrote in a note to investors on Wednesday. “The start of this $2 trillion of AI spending all began with the launch of ChatGPT at the end of 2022 and built out by Godfather of AI Jensen and Nvidia as they are the only game in town with their chips the new gold and oil.”
