New technology continues to come at us fast and furious—wow, what can you do with it all? Does it overwhelm and make you want to hide in bed, under the covers? Maybe that’s not the worse response if it helps you to (eventually) feel safe and calm enough to check out a few things and get an idea of what may be useful for your organization. As it happens, you can consider three new technologies right now—well, two of them you’ve probably been using for a while, but you may not be aware of the full extent of their capabilities and how they’re able to bring operational efficiencies to your Freelance empire. About the third technology on the agenda you may have a vague idea at best and little to no experience using it. The three processes are connected in that they help you, the user, efficiently complete a number of administrative tasks that keep your business operations rolling. The level of functionality you’ll want, that is, the technology you may bring on board will, as expected, depend on what will serve your purpose.

Why AI Assistant?

If you’ve ever picked up your phone and asked Siri (iPhone) or Alexa (Samsung Galaxy, et al.) a question, you’ve used an AI assistant, also known as a virtual assistant, a type of AI-powered technology that can perform simple administrative tasks such as scheduling appointments, retrieving data, giving you directions to where you need to go and controlling smart home devices. AI assistants can also operate transportation systems, schedule calendar software and manage other types of systems that are designed to complete specific tasks. All you have to do is start talking or typing and give the prompt, the more specific the better. Your AI assistant is an intelligent application that understands natural language commands and you are able to use conversational prompts to initiate your tasks. Keep in mind that AI assistants are reactive, so you must request a task to be done.

The technological capability known as large language models (LLMs) specializes in text-related tasks and enables AI assistants to “understand” questions submitted by humans and will respond to those questions with relevant information, suggestions, or next step actions. Your AI assistant /virtual assistant can also help you simplify access to information, automate repetitive tasks and streamline complicated workflows. In business, AI assistants also perform basic data analysis that enables you to efficiently obtain insights that you can factor into decision-making.

Freelancers are happy to know that an AI assistant/virtual assistant can play a role in improving the customer experience you offer by providing real-time support across online chat, voice and email. AI assistants can manage common customer inquiries, guide users through self-service options and manage complex issues when necessary. Using natural language processing (NLP), they’ll answer questions, recommend products/services and help customers complete transactions quickly and accurately. AI assistants provide interactive support, adapt to user needs and learn from feedback and conversation history to enhance the quality of responses. Their 24/7 availability can substantively enhance customer satisfaction and reduce costs, most notably, staffing.

However, AI assistants have limitations. They require specific prompts to produce the best results and their capabilities are limited to predefined functions they have been equipped and trained to handle. For example, an AI assistant can use a spreadsheet to generate a table that compares “x versus y,” but cannot independently take action to create such a comparison without your prompt.

Furthermore, AI assistants do not necessarily have persistent memory and they do not inherently retain information from past user interactions. Some AI assistants can reference prior conversations within a session by storing relevant details in their context window or by using a feature that is called “memory” to recall selected information and use the stored info to improve future responses. In sum, Freelancers can think of an AI assistant as your virtual personal helper and an efficient support system for a busy Freelancer. 

Is AI Agent the way to go?

AI agent refers to a system or program that can independently complete tasks on behalf of users, or another system, by designing its own workflow and using available tools. The AI agent is more autonomous, connected and sophisticated than AI assistants and can encompass a wide range of functions beyond Natural Language Processing, such as decision-making, problem-solving, interacting with external environments and executing actions.

While the AI assistant requires users to provide prompts to initiate every action, AI agents can operate independently after an initial kick-off prompt. AI agents are proactive and able to work independently to achieve a specific goal by collaborating with your other technological tools. They evaluate assigned goals, break tasks into chunks and develop their own workflows to achieve specific objectives for you. AI agents are versatile and can be used for many tasks, from software design and IT automation to code-generation tools and interfacing with your chatbot or AI assistant to provide customer service that enhances the experience. Using advanced NLP from LLMs, AI agents understand and follow user prompts and have the ability to strategize their actions and determine when to call on external tools to complete tasks.

After your initial prompt, the AI agent is off to the races, working without further input and reducing the need for your involvement at every stage. Unlike AI assistants, which will suggest actions for you to review and approve, AI agents have the capability to independently reason, make decisions and problem-solve for you by using external data sets and tools. Their ability to surpass a purely chat-based framework enables proactive decision-making and learning, saving time by handling complex workflows on its own. 

• Connectivity: AI agents are able to unify various capabilities into a single workflow, thereby eliminating bottlenecks that arise from disconnected systems. By integrating seamlessly with external applications, data sources and other AI models, the AI agent will enhance productivity while reducing friction between different components of a process.
  
• Decision-making and action: AI agents go beyond chat to accomplish tasks on their own, based on a specific goal. They analyze problems, break them into chunks and plan next steps autonomously. This makes them effective for handling complex, ambiguous problems. Some AI agents can even demonstrate computer use, where an LLM can click, type and operate a computer to complete tasks.
  
• Persistent memory and adaptive learning: Compared to AI assistants, AI agents have a greater capacity to learn. They store previous actions, conversations and experiences, enabling them to refine their approach over time. With persistent memory, AI agents can recall past interactions to improve future responses, while adaptive learning allows them to adjust their behavior based on feedback and outcomes. Because they integrate with external applications and tools, they can act on real-time data rather than relying solely on their initial training. Over repeated interactions, they become more efficient, sensitive to context and better aligned with your needs.
• Task chaining: AI agents don’t complete tasks on its own; instead, it will they break complex workflows into smaller, manageable steps—chunks. AI agents identify the connections between tasks, which help ensure that each step logically flows into the next. This ability enables structured execution across multi-step processes and makes automation more dynamic.
  
• Team play: AI agents often specialize in specific tasks—one may excel at fact-checking, while another is better at research. These agents can collaborate, forming teams that tackle complex challenges together.

AI agents take customer experience and customer support further by adapting to user behavior in real time. Unlike AI assistants, AI agents fully learn and improve interactions, whether it’s simulating job interviews or handling complex support issues autonomously. They work across websites, apps and Internet of Things devices such as smart watches, smart door locks and fitness trackers to create well executed and highly personalized user experiences. AI agents can improve task management and collaboration by interpreting user needs and assigning tasks to AI assistants, for example. Your AI assistant can use agent-generated data to create more intuitive outputs and enhance coordination.

The downside of AI assistants and AI agents

AI agents have a lot of promise and it’s all quite inspiring but–it’s all new and there can be the occasional system fail, as you might expect. There are risks and limitations with AI-powered technologies to consider. LLMs are susceptible to even the smallest prompt changes that can cause “hallucinations,” meaning that AI agents and AI assistants might fail if, for example, the underlying foundation model breaks. They may have trouble creating comprehensive plans, or may not logically analyze their findings. They sometimes get stuck in endless feedback loops.

Furthermore, because AI agents collaborate with external environments and tools, they must deal with the changes to those tools. Over time, those changes might cause the agent set up to break. AI assistants, however, do not use external tools, so the problem can be avoided.

Finally, for complex tasks, AI agents require a great deal of training and completing tasks might take a minute. On top of that, they can often be expensive. The technology is new and we are still in the early days of understanding and observing what AI agents can do. This future of AI might see nearly complete autonomy of AI technology but for now, human intervention is often still necessary to keep things on track.

Where does Chatbot fit?

By now, you’ve probably used a chatbot to get quick answers to basic questions you may have had about a purchase you wanted to make, like “Is curb side delivery available?” or “What are your store hours on Tuesdays?” A chatbot is a computer program that simulates human conversation with the system user. Not all chatbots are equipped with artificial intelligence (AI), but recent configurations increasingly use conversational AI techniques such as NLP to understand user questions and give responses to them.

The earliest chatbots were merely interactive FAQ programs that relied on a limited list of common questions and pre-programmed answers. Unable to interpret natural language, these FAQs generally required users to select from simple keywords and phrases to move the conversation forward. Such rudimentary chatbots are unable to process complex questions, nor answer simple questions that haven’t been predicted by the developers.

The next generation of chatbots with generative AI capabilities offer more desirable functionality with their understanding of common language and complex queries, their ability to adapt to a user’s style of conversation and use of “empathy” when answering user questions. That means FAQ chatbots no longer need to be pre-programmed with answers to predetermined questions; it’s easier and faster to use generative AI in combination with an organization’s’ knowledge base to automatically generate answers to a wider range of questions.

Conversational-style AI chatbots can process user questions or comments and generate a human-like response, but generative AI chatbots have raised the bar and can even generate new content to incorporate into responses. The new content can include high-quality text, images and sound based on the LLMs they are trained on. When supported by generative AI, the newest chatbots can recognize, summarize, translate, predict and create content in response to a user queries without the need for human interaction. Generative AI can bring a whole new world to old-school chatbots that often gave a rocky performance, to put it politely. But today’s generative AI chatbots can become a 24/7 customer service department that plays a key role in delivering the customer experience that fulfills customer expectations of your brand—and it can be a good fit.

Today’s chatbots can seamlessly manage customer interactions 24/7—and every task becomes a lesson that continuously improves the quality of future chatbot responses. A chatbot can provide a capable first responder and provide back-up support during busy seasons and peak hours, or offload tedious repetitive questions so that human (paid) employees can focus on more complex issues. Chatbots can help reduce the number of users requiring human assistance, while ensuring that businesses efficiently meet customer needs, even after business hours.

A chatbot can also eliminate long wait times for phone-based customer support, or even longer wait times for email, chat, or web-based support, because the system is always available immediately to however many users at once. That’s a great user experience that creates satisfied customers who are more likely to exhibit brand loyalty and give your company good word of mouth, repeat business and referrals.

Again, be advised that caution and due diligence must be conducted when using AI-powered technology, that also includes the generative AI chatbot, along with AI assistants and AI agents. Security risks such as data leaks sub-standard confidentiality and liability concerns, incomplete licensing of source data and uncertain privacy and compliance with international laws. With a lack of proper input data, there is the ongoing risk of “hallucinations,” that undermine the relevance or accuracy of responses that may result in the customer finding it necessary to abandon the technology, creating dashed expectations and an unsatisfactory experience.

When choosing a provider, ask questions to determine if the chatbot meets your deployment, scalability and security requirements. Many chatbots are delivered via the cloud to draw on learning and outcomes from other customer conversations, so if this requires an on-premises solution or a single tenant environment, the list of available providers is much shorter.

Thanks for reading,

Kim

Image: Electronic Superhighway Continental U.S., Alaska, Hawaii (1995) created by South Korean artist Nam June Paik (1935-2006)