A Case for Personal AI Agents
BeeBuddy
In the heart of the city, nestled between narrow alleyways and towering buildings, lived Sarah, a graphic designer with an affinity for all things vintage. Her small yet cozy apartment echoed her preference for the old, with its rustic wooden floors and antique furniture. However, the kitchen was in desperate need of a new fridge. The existing one, as charming as it was, had finally given up the ghost. Sarah’s mission was clear: she had to find a new fridge that would fit perfectly into the small space left behind by the old one.
On a lazy Sunday afternoon, Sarah curled up on her retro sofa with her laptop, hopeful of finding a suitable replacement. She navigated to HomeBee, a popular online marketplace known for its extensive collection of home appliances. HomeBee’s AI assistant, BeeBuddy, promised personalized recommendations based on user preferences.
“Okay, BeeBuddy, I need a fridge that’s 30 inches wide and 65 inches tall,” Sarah said, her fingers dancing across the keyboard as she typed her query into the chatbox on the website.
“BeeBuddy recommends a variety of options for you!” The AI assistant responded almost instantly, a carousel of appliances appearing on her screen. Most of the fridges gleamed with sleek stainless steel finishes, double doors, water dispensers, and other luxurious features. However, most of them were significantly larger than what she had specified.
“Hmm, that’s not quite right, BeeBuddy,” Sarah replied, her eyebrows furrowing as she scanned through the options. “Most of these fridges are too big for my kitchen.”
“Consider reorganizing your kitchen, Sarah!” BeeBuddy chirped back, and a new carousel of images populated her screen. This time, it displayed a series of kitchen layouts, showcasing how Sarah could theoretically remodel her kitchen to accommodate these larger fridges.
“What the…” Sarah muttered under her breath, her fingers hovering over the keyboard in disbelief. After a few moments, she shut down the website and fired up Alpha, her personal AI assistant. “Alpha, can you find a fridge that fits my specifications?” Sarah asked, her voice carrying a hint of hope.
In a matter of seconds, Alpha scanned through the website’s data, bypassing the marketing tactics and irrelevant suggestions. “I found a model that fits your size constraints, Sarah,” Alpha replied. “It’s within your budget, too. Would you like to take a look?”
It’s Soon Going To Matter Who Owns The AI
Currently, companies all around the world are working to incorporate AI into their tools, workflows, and products. You can bet that every retail website is looking at ChatGPT plugins, bard integrations, and considering empowering their storefronts with generative AI-empowered chatbots. In some ways, this could have benefits for the consumer. For shoppers who don’t mind being sold the biggest and best items in the store, it could be convenient to just pop into a website, chat with the AI agent there, and have something purchased in a few moments.
However, let’s extend this scenario to bigger purchases or more important interactions like buying a house or signing legal documents. Or imagine a political party offering free-to-use chatbots that offer advice about the economy or government policy — with a knack for framing the answers in a way that benefits the party’s views, of course.
The old adage, “If the product is free, then you’re the product,” rings true here. With AI, you can be sold without even realizing it.
The Rise of Personal AI Assistants
But there’s an alternative future — one where each person has their own AI. A network of AI with different specializations: entertainment, productivity, security, financial monitoring, and more.
In this future, online stores like HomeBee might optimize for searchability and ease of use for personal AI networks. They may focus more on quick delivery times, quality products, and good deals. Sites offering raw data, like Wolfram or the OECD, may become more popular as personal AIs translate their vast stores of data into useful takeaways for individuals.
This shift could also have unexpected consequences. For instance, AIs don’t pay much attention to ads. Current internet monetization schemes, already heavily impacted by ad blockers, could broadly collapse. This may require sites to start demanding payment for access to their information, leading to an internet that is part paid and part open source.
The Potential of Personal AI Assistants
Regardless of the broader social and economic impacts, personal AI assistants can offer significant benefits:
1. Daily Tasks: A personal AI assistant can help with everyday tasks such as shopping and meal planning. By understanding the user’s preferences, dietary restrictions, and schedule, it can make recommendations tailored to the user’s needs and interests.
2. Data Privacy: Personal AI assistants can help users manage their data trail and reduce the amount of data shared with other entities. They can help users understand and control what data they’re sharing, with whom, and for what purpose.
3. Security: As cyber threats become more sophisticated, personal AI assistants can help users recognize and avoid potential threats. They could warn users about spear-phishing attacks or unsafe online actions, helping to prevent security incidents.
4. Legal Advice: While a personal AI assistant won’t replace a lawyer, it can help users understand basic legal issues. For example, it could warn users about unusual clauses in End User License Agreements or even help them avoid inadvertently exposing themselves to legal risk.
With these potential benefits, personal AI assistants can be powerful allies in navigating the new data economy. They can help users balance the benefits of personalized services with the need to maintain privacy and control over their personal data.
In the end, the future of AI is personal. It’s about having an AI that understands you, respects your privacy, and works for your benefit. And that’s a future worth striving for.
This article was co-authored with the assistance of OpenAI’s ChatGPT, an advanced language model capable of generating human-like text.
