As the competition for autonomous agents intensifies, Microsoft and Salesforce clash

Artificial intelligence-powered virtual agents have become the newest front in the battle between large tech companies.

The conflict between Microsoft and Salesforce has become particularly noticeable as more businesses look to use cutting-edge technology to optimize corporate processes.

Microsoft launched ten autonomous agents on Monday as part of a package of corporate solutions that were introduced at its AI Tour event, making it the most recent company to enter the agent race. Microsoft praised the feature, termed "the new apps," for its capacity to streamline business operations, claiming that early tests revealed a 90% decrease in lead times and a 30% decrease in administrative labor.

The announcement, which highlighted the AI-driven opportunities businesses perceive in enterprise, comes just weeks after Salesforce announced the rollout of its own autonomous agents through the Agentforce platform.

Salesforce has hailed customized agents as the third wave of the AI revolution, allowing businesses to go beyond chatbots that respond to preset replies to digital assistants who can reason, do many jobs at once, and form opinions based on a wider range of facts.

According to Clara Shih, CEO of Salesforce AI, there are many applications in customer relations management where agents can manage anything from creating sales presentations to handling product returns.

Other businesses have highlighted their own unique use of AI bots.

ServiceNow, a cloud software company, has revealed intentions to include AI agents into its IT and HR platforms. An AI agent wingman that would look for potential partners and assist in setting up dates is being developed by the dating app Grindr. For internal usage, including legal work, Palantir Technologies assists clients in creating their own agents.

Additionally, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang recently spoke on a podcast about his vision for the company's future, which included the deployment of 100 million AI agents.