Big Tech’s New AI Obsession: Agents That Do Your Work for You

If you’re just getting up to speed on chatbots and copilots, you’re already falling behind. Talk in Silicon Valley now is squarely focused on agents — artificial intelligence that can handle multistep chores like onboarding clients, approving expenses and not just routing but actually responding to customer-service requests, all with minimal human supervision.

OpenAI Chief Executive Officer Sam Altman calls agents “the next giant breakthrough.” Salesforce Inc. has already signed deals to install AI agents at more than 200 companies including Accenture Plc, Adecco Group, FedEx Corp., International Business Machines Corp. and RBC Wealth Management.

“We’re really at the edge of a revolutionary transformation,” ...