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🎬️ Baby, You're A Star
You get and agent, and you get an assistant. Everybody gets AI.
Eryn Peters
November 03, 2024
Gone are the days when you have to be a movie star to have an agent and an assistant.
The venture capital world has been abuzz with AI agents and assistants, pouring billions into what many believe will be the next evolution of how we work. Companies like Anthropic, Adept, and Inflection have each raised hundreds of millions, while smaller specialized players like Harvey ($100M series C), Contextual ($80M series A), and Sapien ($8.7M seed) are carving out industry-specific niches.
So let’s break down
What agents and assistants are
How this fits into the future of work and affects pricing
Why you might consider leveraging them
🤷 Agents vs. Assistants: What's the Difference?
Think of it this way: AI assistants are like having a really smart colleague who can help you with tasks, while AI agents are more like autonomous contractors who can complete entire workflows on their own.
AI Assistants: Your Digital Colleague
AI assistants, like Claude or ChatGPT, work alongside you in real time, helping with tasks but requiring your guidance and input. Think of them like an augmentation pal that boosts your productivity.
They're conversational partners that can:
Draft emails and documents
Analyze data and create reports
Answer questions and provide explanations
Help brainstorm ideas and solve problems
Real-world example: A marketing manager uses Claude to help draft social media posts, analyze campaign performance data, and brainstorm content ideas. The manager remains in control, providing direction and making final decisions, while the assistant handles the heavy lifting of content creation and data analysis.
AI Agents: Your Autonomous Contractors
AI agents are more autonomous, capable of executing complete tasks or workflows with minimal human intervention. It falls more into the automation category taking things entirely off your plate.
They can:
Monitor systems and respond to events
Complete multi-step processes
Make decisions within defined parameters
Interact with other software and services
Real-world example: An AI agent monitoring customer support tickets automatically categorizes incoming requests, routes them to appropriate departments, drafts initial responses, and even resolves simple issues without human intervention. It only escalates complex cases that require human judgment.
🔮 The "Taskification" of Work Continues
The rise of AI agents and assistants perfectly aligns with several major workforce trends:
1. Work Atomization
Just as freelance platforms broke down traditional jobs into discrete projects, AI further decomposes work into even smaller, more specific tasks. This granular approach allows for better matching of capabilities to needs, whether those capabilities come from humans or AI.
2. Hybrid Workflows
It’s not just hybrid offices, it’s hybrid work overall. The future isn't about AI replacing humans – it's about creating hybrid workflows where AI and humans each handle the parts they're best at. AI excels at repetitive tasks, data processing, and pattern recognition, while humans bring creativity, emotional intelligence, and complex judgment.
3. Skills-First Focus
As discussed in past issues, the shift toward skills-based hiring continues. AI tools accelerate this trend by making it easier to break down jobs into specific skill requirements and match them with the right combination of human and AI capabilities.
4. Productivity Amplification
With AI handling routine tasks, human workers can focus on higher-value activities. This mirrors the trend we're seeing in freelancing, where specialists can leverage AI to increase their output while maintaining quality.
5. Pricing Overhauls
As AI tools reshape how work gets done, they're also forcing us to rethink how work should be priced. Here's the awkward truth: if you're charging by the hour and using AI to work faster, you're literally paying yourself less to do more.
Think about it - Without AI: 4 hours to write a report × $100/hr = $400. With AI: 1 hour for the same quality report × $100/hr = $100. Oops. 🤦♀️
Emerging Pricing Models
Speed-Based Pricing
Premium rates for AI-accelerated delivery
Different tiers for "human only" vs. "AI-enhanced" work
Value-Based Pricing
Fixed pricing based on deliverable value
Focus on outcomes rather than time spent
Hybrid Models
Base rate + AI enhancement fee
Subscription packages for ongoing AI-enhanced services
🧠 Making the Choice: Assistant, Agent, or Both?
When deciding which AI approach fits your needs, consider:
Choose an AI Assistant when: | Choose an AI Agent when: | Consider Both when: |
|---|---|---|
You need collaborative help with complex, creative tasks Human judgment and oversight are crucial You want to maintain direct control over outputs Tasks require real-time interaction and iteration | You have well-defined, repeatable processes Tasks can be completed with clear decision rules Speed and scale are priorities Human intervention is only needed for exceptions | You have a mix of collaborative and autonomous needs Different departments have varying automation requirements You want to experiment with different AI approaches You need to scale different aspects of your operation |
👀 Looking Ahead
The distinction between agents and assistants will likely blur as the technology evolves.
We're moving toward a future where AI tools will be as common as spreadsheets are today – just another part of our standard workflow. The key is starting to experiment now to understand how these tools can best augment your work and your team's capabilities.
Remember: The goal isn't to replace human workers but to enhance their capabilities and free them to focus on what humans do best – creative thinking, relationship building, and complex problem-solving.
That’s all for now, pals. See ya next week.