Artificial intelligence (AI) agents will reshape the global white-collar economy, potentially bringing in nearly $50 trillion in commercial value a year, as they evolve from personal assistants into autonomous virtual employees, reports Caixin, citing Alibaba Chairman Joe Tsai.
Speaking at the Siemens Real Meets Digital conference on Monday, Tsai said that large language models are transitioning from knowledge-storing encyclopedias into agents empowered with logical reasoning, autonomous planning and long-term memory. He added that the global economy was valued at about $110 trillion, with labor costs accounting for 60%, and knowledge-driven workers making up two-thirds of that workforce. This, he said, positions AI agents to significantly boost the work efficiency and potentially generate nearly $50 trillion in business value a year.
To illustrate the capabilities of such tools, Tsai said that his colleagues recently developed four AI agents designed to scrape tech news, extract key trends and handle creative writing and rewriting. Together, these agents operated as a tech influencer, he said.