Through the Chat Window and Into the Real World: Preparing for AI Agents
Helen Toner, John Bansemer, Kyle Crichton, Matthew Burtell, Thomas Woodside, Anat Lior, Andrew J. Lohn, Ashwin K. Acharya, Beba Cibralic, Chris Painter, Cullen O’Keefe, Iason Gabriel, Kathleen Fisher, Ketan Ramakrishnan, Krystal Jackson, Noam Kolt, Rebecca Crootof, Samrat Chatterjee · 2024
Computer scientists have long sought to build systems that can actively and autonomously carry out complicated goals in the real world—commonly referred to as artificial intelligence "agents." Recently, significant progress in large language models has fueled new optimism about the prospect of building sophisticated AI agents. This CSET-led workshop report synthesizes findings from a May 2024 workshop on this topic, including what constitutes an AI agent, how the technology is improving, what risks agents exacerbate, and intervention points that could help.