Even with a lot of the hype around AI cooling down, there can be little doubt about the enduring, transformative nature of this technology. It already plays an important role in business and society, and it will grow in importance in the upcoming decades. Artificial intelligence is bound to have a deep impact on how companies add value and how people work - although we cannot yet foresee all the future pathways and developments.
Large language models are progressing fast and activity in the agentic AI space remains high. Nobody can afford to ignore these processes. A McKinsey report from this year found that 92% of companies that have already implemented AI are planning to increase their investments over the next three years. At the same time, only 1% of these companies feel they have reached "AI maturity" yet.
Gartner predicts that the use of AI agents and digital assistants in enterprise software applications will go up from less than 1 percent in 2024 to 33 percent by 2028. In a recent blog post, the American investor and entrepreneur Doug Levin explained the shift from AI assistants to AI agents, which happened over the past year. It is important to note that AI agents and digital (or AI) assistants are related, but they are not the same thing. They differ in their level of autonomy and the complexity of tasks they can perform.
AI assistants (also called digital assistants) are reactive and task-oriented. They respond to user commands or prompts. They perform specific, predefined tasks such as setting reminders, answering questions, or controlling smart devices. They wait for user input and follow predetermined workflows. Siri, Alexa, and Google Assistant are among the well-known examples.
On the other hand, AI agents are more independent and proactive. Gartner described them as the "autonomous or semiautonomous software entities that use AI techniques to perceive, make decisions, take actions and achieve goals in their digital or physical environments". AI agents can interpret situations, take initiative, make complex decisions and learn from outcomes. They execute multistep processes to achieve goals. They don’t need constant human intervention. AI agents manage entire workflows and projects, and they adapt their approach based on feedback. Examples of AI agents are autonomous marketing campaign managers, and customer support agents that handle escalations and follow-ups.
Sources say that we can distinguish five or six types of AI agents. According to Gartner, AI agents can be reflex, goal-based, learning-based, utility-based, hierarchical and collaborative.
In an overview of AI in hospitality from January this year, Lisa Schwarz of NetSuite offers an analysis and examples of how this technology already powers hotel business. There are two major business areas where AI effort and investment is focused: profitability and guest services. The extent to which AI can help hospitality in these two areas will most certainly impact the direction and intensity of future AI implementations in this industry.
It would be wrong to think that there is a singular AI for hospitality. Rather, as Schwarz notes, AI is embedded into technologies that underpin the entire hotel business, from the front desk to the back office. By now, hotel companies have come to use AI to power virtual assistants, enable real-time translation and help make dynamic pricing decisions. Conversational AI has become integral to hospitality chatbots, virtual assistants and automated check-in. It is used to personalize guest services and experiences. Also, AI is entering energy management systems and waste reduction planning, and helping hotels improve security.
Inevitably, thinking about AI involves thinking about robots and the emergence of physical intelligence. It is a branch of AI focused on enabling machines to perceive, understand and interact with the physical environment. Physical AI is "aware" of space surrounding it. It uses all kinds of sensors to perceive the environment in real time, but it doesn’t stop there. It can "reason" about physical spaces and interact with physical objects.
Amazon recently deployed its millionth robot; they operate a fleet in more than 300 facilities across the world. As of today, their robotic systems include item sorters (on the simpler side of things) to sensor-equipped humanoids. Mass production of humanoid robots is expected to begin this year (Forbes), while mass adoption for commercial production could start in 2028 (BofA Global Research).
Investment and advances in science and technology will make it possible for "AI brains" in robots to "perceive" and interact with the environment much better than they do now. The same research predicts that the use of AI-powered humanoid robots in the coming decade will happen in three stages. The industrial sector and logistics are expected to adopt them first. Business services will follow. Finally, AI robots will be deployed in households. Morgan Stanley estimated that 63 million humanoid robots could be in use in the US by 2050. That could potentially impact 40% of US workers and 75% of occupations.
If your company is among the early AI adopters, it has a great chance of gaining a competitive edge in a longer run. AI may be the most disruptive technological shift in the global economy since the rise of the internet, or even since the first cars were invented.
It’s important to understand what the technology can do at the moment, and how specific capacity - which could boost your business outcomes - might develop in the future. More often than not, meaningful information on AI in enterprise environments is hard to discern from clutter. These days, everyone seems to be working with AI and offering wonderful solutions to all kinds of business problems. However, which of these solutions make sense is less clear. Many times, systematic business results are yet to be proven. Still, there can be little doubt that your department and your company should keep learning and exploring how to use AI to improve its business results. You can start today with automating processes using AI agents, which can yield ROI fairly quickly.
And, if you are wondering whether your employees are ready for it, you might be surprised. The McKinsey study found that three times more employees than their leaders imagine are already using generative AI to do at least a third of their work. And 70 percent of all employees believe that genAI will change at least 30 percent of their work within two years.
Don't wait for "AI maturity" to arrive - get in touch with our experts to help you with focused exploration and assessments of what your next steps could or should be. Small-scale implementations you make today will help you build the muscle needed for competitive advantage in the future. The future of your enterprise might easily be defined by the concrete actions you take in the next twelve months.
If you’re looking for a results-driven, innovative software development partner to help capitalize on new, profitable opportunities, reinvent your brand, or deliver incremental value to your business, we can help.
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