Archive
Tag: AI Agents
Microsoft Introduces AI-Powered Sales Agents for Microsoft 365 Copilot
Microsoft has a message for Salesforce: Hold my beer. The same week that Salesforce unveiled more enhancements to its Agentforce platform, Microsoft introduced two AI-powered sales agents for Microsoft 365 Copilot. This marks the latest in a growing lineup of in-house AI bots the company has integrated into its ecosystem. Today’s release is designed to […]
Salesforce Unveils AgentExchange, a Built-In Marketplace for Agentforce
Twenty years ago, Salesforce introduced AppExchange, a cloud-based marketplace for business applications. It was designed to strengthen the platform and provide CRM administrators and developers with a space to showcase their apps. Since then, it has become a key part of Salesforce’s ecosystem. Today, there have been more than 13 million installs, and it now […]
Salesforce’s Next Big Challenge: Convincing Developers to Build AI Agents
Marc Benioff believes we’re in the era of digital labor, an opportunity Salesforce’s charismatic chief executive concedes his company is still trying to grasp. “We can see a new world opening when we look at digital labor. When we’re talking about [AI] agents, we’re talking about digital labor,” he proclaimed in December, valuing it as […]
Zendesk Acquires Local Measure to Strengthen AI Voice Capabilities, Expand AWS Partnership
Customer experience platform Zendesk has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Australia-based Contact Center as a Service (CCaaS) firm Local Measure. Citing pending regulatory approval, the deal’s financial terms were not disclosed—it’s been reported to be $100 million—, but both companies expect the deal to close in May 2025. The move aims to bolster […]
IT Leaders Bet on AI Agents to Ease Growing Workloads, But Integration Remains a Major Hurdle
Companies are embracing the artificial intelligence revolution, turning to AI agents to help them scale for the future. That’s good news for enterprise agentic platform providers like Salesforce, Zendesk, and ServiceNow and startups like Cognition Labs, Adept AI, and LangChain. However, while there’s tech adoption, it’s not being smartly executed. New research from MuleSoft, Venson […]
CES 2025: Now With More AI
IN THIS ISSUE: Welcome to the final newsletter of 2024. Thank you for subscribing to and reading “The AI Economy.” Next month marks one year since I launched this publication, and I appreciate the reception it has received. In the coming year, expect more stories about AI’s impact on business, work, technology, and society. Regarding […]
Salesforce Unveils Agentforce 2.0, Bringing AI Agents to Slack and Introducing Advanced Atlas Reasoning
As AI agents take center stage in 2024, Salesforce is fully leaning into the trend. In October, the cloud computing company launched Agentforce, a platform that lets anyone quickly build advanced AI bots and connect them to enterprise data. Two months later, it’s introducing its next-generation AI agent offering, which aims to redefine “AI agents across […]
Proto Hologram’s Holographic AI Avatars: ‘A Chatbot in a Fancy Dress, but With a Persona Presence’
I wanted to check out one company in particular while attending Amazon Web Services’ re:Invent conference. It came to my attention days prior while perusing LinkedIn, and I became curious about its technology. However, I ignored where exactly I could find it at the show. It turns out that the company, Proto Hologram, wasn’t hard […]
AWS Introduces Amazon Q Developer Agents for Automated Testing, Documentation, and Code Reviews
Amazon Web Services (AWS) has unveiled a slate of enhancements for Amazon Q, its generative AI coding assistant. Announced at this year’s re:Invent conference, the company is launching several new features to make it easier for developers to innovate. Starting today, Q Developer has a built-in agent to automate the end-to-end process of generating and […]
Salesforce Emphasizes Bench Strength as it Navigates Agentforce Future Amid Key AI Executive Departure
Clara Shih stepped onto the stage in a room with tens of thousands of people and many more online watching. Introduced by Salesforce Chief Executive Marc Benioff, Shih would showcase the company’s most significant product releases in years. As the head of Salesforce AI, she made the case for why organizations want to use the […]