Previously, there were conventional voice assistants or digital assistants such as Alexa, Siri and Google Assistant. These days GPT-4o (OpenAI) and Project Astra (Google) are AI agents with the capability to process audio and visual inputs and provide intelligent responses. They are sophisticated AI systems that can engage us in real-time and are multi-modal (text, image, voice) while interacting with us. Conventional models work only text-based inputs and outputs. AI agents can process and respond to a wide variety of inputs (voice, images, text) and even input from surroundings.

You can interact with them through a voice, as you would with a human. AI agents perceive their environment through sensors. They process the information using algorithms. These are used in gaming, robotics, virtual assistants, autonomous vehicles etc.

LLMs (GPT-3 and GPT-4) can generate text. Agents make interaction more natural and immersive. AI agents are designed for instant real-time conversations. They learn from the context and generate relevant and personalized response. They can perform complex tasks autonomously (coding, data analysis etc.). They can even perform physical actions. They are ideal for customer service. They can act as personal tutors. They help the physicians by providing real-time analysis and diagnostic support. They can even monitor patients.

AI agents have access to personal data and environmental information. Privacy and securities are the major issues. AI agents can carry forward biases (from the training data or algorithms). These lead to harmful outcomes. They should be rightly regulated and be deployed responsibly.