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AI agents are science fiction not yet ready for primetime
It all started with J.A.R.V.I.S. Yes, that J.A.R.V.I.S. The one from the Marvel movies.
Well, maybe it didn’t start with Iron Man’s AI assistant, but the fictional system definitely helped the concept of an AI agent along. Whenever I’ve interviewed AI industry folks about agentic AI, they often point to J.A.R.V.I.S. as an example of the ideal AI tool in many ways — one that knows what you need done before you even ask, can analyze and find insights in large swaths of data, and can offer strategic advice or run point on certain aspects of your business. People sometimes disagree on the exact definition of an AI agent, but at its core, it’s a step beyond chatbots in that it’s a system that can perform multistep, complex tasks on your behalf without constantly needing back-and-forth communication with you. It essentially makes its own to-do list of subtasks it needs to complete in order to get to your preferred end goal. That fantasy is closer to being a reality in many ways, but when it comes to actual usefulness for the everyday user, there are a lot of things that don’t work — and maybe will never work.
The term “AI agent” has been around for a long time, but it especially started trending in the tech industry in 2023. That was the year of the concept of AI agents; the term was on everyone’s lips as people tried to suss out the idea and how to make it a reality, but you didn’t see many successful use cases. The next year, 2024, was the year of deployment — people were really putting the code out into the field and seeing what it could do. (The answer, at the time, was… not much. And filled with a bunch of error messages.)
I can pinpoint the hype around AI agents becoming widespread to one specific announcement: In February 2024, Klarna, a fintech company, said that after one month, its AI assistant (powered by OpenAI’s tech) had successfully done the work of 700 full-time customer service agents and automated two-thirds of the company’s customer service chats. For months, those statistics came up in almost every AI industry conversation I had.
The hype never died down, and in the following months, every Big Tech CEO seemed to harp on the term in every earnings call. Executives at Amazon, Meta, Google, Microsoft, and a whole host of other companies began to talk about their commitment to building useful and successful AI agents — and tried to put their money where their mouths are to make it happen.
The vision was that one day, an AI agent could do everything from book your travel to generate visuals for your business presentations. The ideal tool could even, say, find a good time and place to hang out with a bunch of your friends that works with all of your calendars, food preferences, and dietary restrictions — and then book the dinner reservation and create a calendar event for everyone.
Now let’s talk about the “AI coding” of it all: For years, AI coding has been carrying the agentic AI industry. If you asked anyone about real-life, successful, not-annoying use cases for AI agents happening right now and not conceptually in a not-too-distant future, they’d point to AI coding — and that was pretty much the only concrete thing they could point to. Many engineers use AI agents for coding, and they’re seen as objectively pretty good. Good enough, in fact, that at Microsoft and Google, up to 30 percent of the code is now being written by AI agents. And for startups like OpenAI and Anthropic, which burn through cash at high rates, one of their biggest revenue generators is AI coding tools for enterprise clients.
So until recently, AI coding has been the main real-life use case of AI agents, but obviously, that’s not pandering to the everyday consumer. The vision, remember, was always a jack-of-all-trades sort of AI agent for the “everyman.” And we’re not quite there yet — but in 2025, we’ve gotten closer than we’ve ever been before.
Last October, Anthropic kicked things off by introducing “Computer Use,” a tool that allowed Claude to use a computer like a human might — browsing, searching, accessing different platforms, and completing complex tasks on a user’s behalf. The general consensus was that the tool was a step forward for technology, but reviews said that in practice, it left a lot to be desired. Fast-forward to January 2025, and OpenAI released Operator, its version of the same thing, and billed it as a tool for filling out forms, ordering groceries, booking travel, and creating memes. Once again, in practice, many users agreed that the tool was buggy, slow, and not always efficient. But again, it was a significant step. The next month, OpenAI released Deep Research, an agentic AI tool that could compile long research reports on any topic for a user, and that spun things forward, too. Some people said the research reports were more impressive in length than content, but others were seriously impressed. And then in July, OpenAI combined Deep Research and Operator into one AI agent product: ChatGPT Agent. Was it better than most consumer-facing agentic AI tools that came before? Absolutely. Was it still tough to make work successfully in practice? Absolutely.
So there’s a long way to go to reach that vision of an ideal AI agent, but at the same time, we’re technically closer than we’ve ever been before. That’s why tech companies are putting more and more money into agentic AI, by way of investing in additional compute, research and development, or talent. Google recently hired Windsurf’s CEO, cofounder, and some R&D team members, specifically to help Google push its AI agent projects forward. And companies like Anthropic and OpenAI are racing each other up the ladder, rung by rung, to introduce incremental features to put these agents in the hands of consumers. (Anthropic, for instance, just announced a Chrome extension for Claude that allows it to work in your browser.)
So really, what happens next is that we’ll see AI coding continue to improve (and, unfortunately, potentially replace the jobs of many entry-level software engineers). We’ll also see the consumer-facing agent products improve, likely slowly but surely. And we’ll see agents used increasingly for enterprise and government applications, especially since Anthropic, OpenAI, and xAI have all debuted government-specific AI platforms in recent months.
Overall, expect to see more false starts, starts and stops, and mergers and acquisitions as the AI agent competition picks up (and the hype bubble continues to balloon). One question we’ll all have to ask ourselves as the months go on: What do we actually want a conceptual “AI agent” to be able to do for us? Do we want them to replace just the logistics or also the more personal, human aspects of life (i.e., helping write a wedding toast or a note for a flower delivery)? And how good are they at helping with the logistics vs. the personal stuff? (Answer for that last one: not very good at the moment.)
- Besides the astronomical environmental cost of AI — especially for large models, which are the ones powering AI agent efforts — there’s an elephant in the room. And that’s the idea that “smarter AI that can do anything for you” isn’t always good, especially when people want to use it to do… bad things. Things like creating chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear (CBRN) weapons. Top AI companies say they’re increasingly worried about the risks of that. (Of course, they’re not worried enough to stop building.)
- Let’s talk about the regulation of it all. A lot of people have fears about the implications of AI, but many aren’t fully aware of the potential dangers posed by uber-helpful, aiming-to-please AI agents in the hands of bad actors, both stateside and abroad (think: “vibe-hacking,” romance scams, and more). AI companies say they’re ahead of the risk with the voluntary safeguards they’ve implemented. But many others say this may be a case for an external gut-check.
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Hi, friends! Welcome to Installer No. 124, your guide to the best and Verge-iest stuff in the world. (If you’re new here, welcome, send me your Coachella fits, and also you can read all the old editions at the Installer homepage.)
This week, I’ve been reading about restaurant bread and GLP-1s and Lenny Rachitsky and Artemis II fashion, watching the new boy band doc because I will always watch a boy band doc, also watching every clip I can find from Justin Bieber’s Coachella set, filling the Schitt’s Creek-shaped hole in my heart with Big Mistakes, getting increasingly excited about The Mandalorian and Grogu, and watering my new lawn so it doesn’t die. Please don’t die, lawn. You were so expensive.
I also have for you a couple of new AI apps to install on your computer, new action cameras worth planning a trip around, a new sci-fi action game to play, and much more.
Oh, and a reminder: Send me the thing you made! We’re doing self-promotion week in Installer (probably next week but maybe the week after), and either way I want to hear about the things you’ve been making, building, coding, creating, whatever-ing that you think the Installerverse might like. I’ve already heard from SO MANY of you, and it rules — keep the good stuff coming! Let’s dig in.
(As always, the best part of Installer is your ideas and tips. What are you watching / reading / playing / listening to / storing on your NAS this week? Tell me everything: installer@theverge.com. And if you know someone else who might enjoy Installer, forward it to them and tell them to subscribe here.)
- OpenAI Codex. Here’s OpenAI’s latest stab at an all-in-one AI superapp, which includes a web browser, new coding tools, and a setting that allows Codex to just use your computer for you. Tread lightly, as always, but people seem to be liking Codex a lot recently.
- Gemini for Mac. I’m mad at Google for tying its Mac app to a keyboard shortcut lots of people use for other things, and for making the app a login item by default. But! This is immediately the best way yet to interact with Gemini, and even Google Drive and Photos, from your computer. Into my dock it goes.
- Beef season two. Beef is one of the very best shows nobody ever seems to talk about. I’ve been burned before by the “we’ll just do it again but with a whole new cast” premise — looking at you, True Detective — but this is a win even just as a reason to rewatch the first season.
- Gradient Weather. Y’all, I think somebody finally made the gorgeous, simple weather app Android has been desperately needing. It’s very new and very beta, but I love the look, and I love that the whole aesthetic shifts with the weather. Insta-install.
- Lorne. By all accounts this is about as close as anyone has ever gotten to a truly inside look at Saturday Night Live and its semi-mythological creator, Lorne Michaels. Morgan Neville mostly makes great docs and got a ton of access for this one; I’m very excited to watch it.
- “Where Are All Of These GPUs Actually Going?” A very fun answer to a surprisingly complex question: What are companies doing with the unbelievable quantities of chips they’re buying? The numbers are all kind of pretend, and How Money Works does a good job making them make sense.
- The DJI Osmo Pocket 4. It’s very sad that this gimbal camera isn’t coming to the US in the near future, because more buttons, better slo-mo, and more built-in storage are all terrific upgrades. I use a Pocket 3 all the time, and will be keeping an eye out for the upgrade.
- The GoPro Mission 1 Pro ILS. This one’s still in “coming soon” mode, but it is the first GoPro in a long time I’ve been excited about. Adding an interchangeable lens mount, along with all the other Mission 1 upgrades, is going to completely change the kinds of things people do with GoPros. I can’t wait to see this thing out in the wild.
- Coachella TV. I’ve never spent much time with YouTube’s Coachella livestream, but this year’s show has been terrific. It almost feels like a concert doc being shot in real time — and there’s more Bieber to come!
- Pragmata. I am always here for a game that’s not trying to be a live-service, battle-royale, open-world anything, and instead just sends you on an adventure. It may suffer from being a touch too derivative, but it still appears to be very much my kind of game.
I’ve been a fan of Maria Popova’s work for… about as long as I can remember. Maria runs a site called The Marginalian, which I started following back when it was called Brain Pickings; under both names the site has been a fountain of stuff to read, with surprising and smart ideas about just about everything. I spend a lot of time reading, and on the internet, and I can’t think of anyone who shows me more stuff I never would have found otherwise.
Maria put out a book earlier this year, called Traversal, that is all about how people look at, think about, and reckon with the world around them. There is a lot going on in this book, and I suspect you’ll like it. I asked Maria to share her homescreen with us, curious if she also had a more enlightened take on all things technology.
Here’s Maria’s homescreen, plus some info on the apps she uses and why:
The phone: iPhone 16 – still too large for me, but I had to grudgingly resign to it after my last 13 mini gave up Moore’s ghost.
The wallpaper: Spring moonrise behind leafing maple in the forest where I live much of the year.
The apps: Evernote, Phone, Safari. (Blank Spaces is the app that turns the icons to text.)
The usual life-management tools (calendar, connection, climate) plus Evernote, which I have been using since 2003 and which is by now an Alexandria of meticulously organized information that just about runs my life.
I also asked Maria to share a few things she’s into right now. Here’s what she sent back:
- Robert Macfarlane and Jackie Morris’s Book of Birds: A Field Guide to Wonder and Loss.
- Joan As Police Woman’s record Lemons, Limes and Orchids.
- Jad Abumrad’s miniseries Fela Kuti: Fear No Man.
- The lovely reminder of who we can be in the story of how humanity saved the ginkgo.
Here’s what the Installer community is into this week. I want to know what you’re into right now as well! Email installer@theverge.com or message me on Signal — @davidpierce.11 — with your recommendations for anything and everything, and we’ll feature some of our favorites here every week. For even more great recommendations, check out the replies to this post on Threads and this post on Bluesky.
“Becca Farsace recommended the OhSnap Mcon on her channel recently and I picked one up. It’s super slick and works great with the Delta emulator so far. I got Goldeneye running just fine with it after a little tuning.” — Ian
“Really been enjoying Plain Text Sports to follow the start of baseball season. Loads fast, has everything I want with none of the ESPN cruft” — Rich
“I’ve almost finished reading Service Model by Adrian Tchaikovsky and I’m obsessed: equal amounts of humor and existential dread. It’s very silly, very thoughtful, and frankly a very Verge-y take on technology.” — Olof
“YouTube has been my recent go-to for surprisingly good short films that you would probably never hear about or would probably get lost in the Hollywood machine. For instance, this one called Aborted was amazing and there are more like it out there.” — Steve
“Definitely watch Jon Bois’ hilarious, quirky, and informative series about the birth of the internet mashed up with Home Improvement TV show references.” — Logan
“I bought a MacBook Air a few weeks ago after looking at the Neo and getting fed up by Windows, and I bought a few helper apps to fix small annoyances I had with the notch and
Spotlight. There are a lot of good notch applications but I bought Alcove — having the notch show me when I raise and lower volume makes the giant black bar in the middle of my screen feel slightly less useless somehow. I’ve also been using TinyStart, which is really
fast and nice! These two helper apps have made using the Mac as my main computer feel much nicer than it did the last time I tried.” — Iris
”My passion for discovering TTRPGs and learning about game design has led me into a deep dive on the Youtube channel Knights of Last Call. Long live-streams and VODs and a super active community have opened my eyes to even more of what is possible in TTRPGs.” — Simeon
“Season 3 of Shrinking on Apple TV just ended on such a powerful note. The ensemble cast just keeps bringing it and the writing realistically takes on all kinds of human problems we all deal with or know about. A+” — Aaron
“I find SO MANY great book recommendations thanks to The Big Idea feature on John Scalzi’s blog, Whatever!” — Steve
You surely already know this, but I spend way too much time on snacks. Eating them. Researching them. Thinking about them. Longing for more of them. And I know I’m not alone! So I have big news: My wife recently brought home a variety pack of candy from YumEarth, and it’s all excellent. It’s basically Skittles, Starbursts, and Sour Patch Kids, but with more natural ingredients and a lot less sugar. (But still a lot of sugar, because it’s candy. Sugar-free candy is a lie.)
I am constantly on the lookout for a way to make my bad habits a little better, without making my life worse in the process. This is a perfect one. The Skittles equivalent are called “Giggles,” which is awful, but they’re delicious. So I’ll allow it. I’m gonna go get some right now.
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People attend the 2023 Snap Partner Summit at the Barker Hangar in Santa Monica, California, on April 19, 2023. (Frederic J. Brown/AFP via Getty Images)
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Welcome to Fox News’ Artificial Intelligence newsletter with the latest AI technology advancements.
IN TODAY’S NEWSLETTER:
– Snapchat parent company cuts 1,000 jobs in major AI-driven workforce restructuring
– The AI you use every day is biased — and it’s quietly shaping your worldview, new report says
– First-ever moratorium on AI data centers passes Maine legislature
TECH SHAKE-UP: Snapchat parent company cuts 1,000 jobs in major AI-driven workforce restructuring – Snapchat’s parent company, Snap, announced it is laying off approximately 1,000 employees—about 16% of its full-time workforce — as part of a major restructuring effort driven by the integration of artificial intelligence. The tech firm expects the cuts and AI-driven workflow efficiencies to yield over $500 million in annualized savings, following pressure from an activist investor to streamline operations and rein in costs.
CODED INFLUENCE: The AI you use every day is biased — and it’s quietly shaping your worldview, new report says – A new report from the America First Policy Institute reveals that popular artificial intelligence systems consistently lean left and possess a subtle ideological bias that can quietly shape users’ worldviews. The findings suggest that these hidden design choices not only reflect ideological assumptions but can actively persuade and influence public opinion on key political and social issues, raising transparency concerns over AI’s growing role in daily life.
TECH BOOM BRAKES: First-ever moratorium on AI data centers passes Maine legislature – Maine is poised to become the first state to impose a moratorium on large artificial intelligence data centers, advancing legislation that would pause approvals for hyperscale facilities requiring over 20 megawatts of power until October 2027. The move, which reflects growing national backlash over power grid strain and environmental impacts, will serve as a major test case for how states balance the massive energy demands of Big Tech with local economic and ecological concerns.
FBI agents executed a search warrant at the Spring, Texas, home of a suspect in the Molotov cocktail attack on the home of OpenAI CEO Sam Altman. (Fox News)
COPYCAT RISK: Molotov cocktail attack on Sam Altman’s home sparks fears of copycat strikes against tech executives – Following a predawn Molotov cocktail attack on OpenAI CEO Sam Altman’s San Francisco home, federal authorities are on high alert for copycat strikes against other high-profile tech executives. The suspect, Daniel Moreno-Gama, was motivated by anti-AI extremism and allegedly carried a manifesto listing additional AI executives and their addresses, prompting San Francisco District Attorney Brooke Jenkins to pursue aggressive prosecution amid escalating rhetoric surrounding artificial intelligence.
EVOLVED HACKING: AI is now powering cyberattacks, Microsoft warns – According to a new report from Microsoft Threat Intelligence, cybercriminals and nation-state actors are increasingly utilizing artificial intelligence to accelerate and scale their cyberattacks. Hackers are using generative AI to write convincing phishing emails, build malicious infrastructure and dynamically generate malware, significantly lowering the technical barrier to entry for cybercrime and prompting calls for stronger digital security measures.
WATCH OUT: Is Mark Zuckerberg’s Meta AI getting too smart? – Meta has unveiled its foundational AI model, Muse Spark, equipping its Meta AI assistant with advanced multimodal capabilities like image comprehension and parallel task handling across apps like WhatsApp, Instagram, and Facebook. Fox News Digital details that the upgrade is part of Mark Zuckerberg’s aggressive push toward a “personal superintelligence,” allowing the AI to seamlessly analyze photos, answer complex health queries, and simultaneously execute multi-step planning tasks.
OPINION: SEN BERNIE SANDERS: Artificial intelligence is coming for the working class. We must fight back – Sen. Bernie Sanders is calling for a federal moratorium on new artificial intelligence data centers until strong safeguards are enacted to protect the working class from widespread job displacement. Sen. Sanders warns that AI oligarchs are deploying revolutionary technologies to replace human workers entirely, urging Congress to rethink the American social contract and ensure the AI boom benefits everyday citizens rather than just billionaires.
COSTLY CONVENIENCE: OPINION: AI tax filing sounds easy — until it leaves you owing the IRS thousands of dollars – While using AI chatbots like ChatGPT to file taxes may seem like a convenient shortcut, relying on them can lead to costly errors and severe IRS penalties due to the tools’ inability to accurately apply complex tax codes. Expert Hemant Bhargava cautions taxpayers to treat AI as a translator rather than a decision-maker, emphasizing that consumer AI systems frequently miscalculate liabilities and fail to securely handle highly sensitive financial data.
DIGITAL DOPPELGANGER: Meta reportedly building an AI version of Mark Zuckerberg to interact with company employees – Meta is reportedly developing a photorealistic, artificial intelligence-powered version of CEO Mark Zuckerberg to interact directly with company employees, according to a recent report. Zuckerberg has been actively training the AI character on his own mannerisms and strategies to foster stronger internal connections, a move that aligns with the tech giant’s broader ambition to integrate “personal superintelligence” across its platforms.
Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg. ( David Paul Morris/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
MAJOR REVAMP: Allbirds drops sneakers, reinvents itself as an AI infrastructure company – San Francisco-based footwear brand Allbirds is abandoning its sneaker business to reinvent itself as an artificial intelligence infrastructure company called NewBird AI. The stunning pivot involves a $50 million convertible financing agreement to acquire high-performance graphics processing units (GPUs), aiming to meet the massive, unmet demand for AI cloud computing capacity among enterprise developers.
‘KEEP UP’: Reese Witherspoon warns AI is three times more likely to replace women – Actress Reese Witherspoon took to Instagram to urge women to embrace artificial intelligence, warning that jobs traditionally held by women are three times more likely to be automated by the emerging technology. Witherspoon’s concerns align with a recent UN study, and the Hollywood star is encouraging her followers to actively learn about AI so they aren’t left behind in a rapidly evolving digital landscape.
LATTE UPGRADE: Starbucks uses ChatGPT to suggest drinks based on mood as expert warns of hidden downsides – Starbucks has launched a beta integration with ChatGPT, allowing customers to receive customized beverage recommendations tailored to their mood, taste, and even the weather. Fox News Digital reports that while the AI tool offers a fun and highly personalized ordering experience, experts warn it could quietly manipulate consumer behavior by consistently nudging users toward sweeter, higher-calorie drinks that satisfy impulsive emotional cravings.
SPOT ON: AI could be coming for your wine as experts turn to technology for industry overhaul – Scientists have developed an AI-powered handheld sensor called RipenAI that uses machine learning and optical technology to instantly determine the ripeness of grapes directly on the vine. This revolutionary, non-destructive tool could transform the winemaking industry by optimizing harvest timing and improving the overall quality and efficiency of wine production.
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Stay up to date on the latest AI technology advancements, and learn about the challenges and opportunities AI presents now and for the future with Fox News here.
I am immensely grateful to Sam, Mark, Aditya and Jakub for fostering a research environment that allowed us to pursue ideas off-the-beaten path from the company’s mainline roadmap. It’s tempting in life to mode collapse to the most important thing, but cultivating entropy is the only way for a research lab to thrive long-term, and Sam deeply understands this. Sora was a project that could not have happened anywhere but OpenAI, and I will always deeply love this place for that.
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