Search “AutoGPT” on Twitter and you will quickly find tweets like “ChatGPT is old news, AutoGPT is the future,” this is because, in only a week, two new models have taken the internet by storm — AutoGPT and BabyAGI.

The rapidly gaining popularity is due to the use of autonomous AI agents, an early form of artificial general intelligence (AGI) which as its name would suggest, can work autonomously after just a single prompt.

Once set up, agents are designed to operate independently, using AI techniques like machine learning, natural language processing, and computer vision to analyze and respond to their environment. A variety of Twitter users have already shared examples of exactly how powerful these agents are, from automating a to-do list to having an agent compile research on five different shoe brands.

First: It went straight to google to find the top 5 waterproof shoes reviews.

Once it found links, it created questions for itself like

“What are the pros and cons of each shoe”
“What are the pros and cons of each top 5 waterproof shoe”
“Top 5 waterproof shoes for men” pic.twitter.com/igTosrNA7q

— Sully (@SullyOmarr) April 9, 2023

Autonomous AI agents didn’t just come out this week though, they have been around in various other applications for some time now, including robotics, self-driving cars, virtual assistants, and financial trading systems. While these agents can offer significant benefits, such as increased efficiency, cost savings, and improved accuracy, they also present several potential risks.

One significant risk is the potential for these agents to make decisions that harm humans or violate ethical principles. For example, a self-driving car that prioritizes the safety of its passengers over pedestrians or other drivers could cause serious accidents. Similarly, an AI trading system that makes decisions based solely on profit motives could lead to market instability or unethical investment practices.

“There is an aspect of this which we call — all of us in the field call it as a ‘black box,’ you don’t fully understand, and you can’t quite tell why it said this” shared Google CEO Sundar Pichai in a 60 minutes episode, regarding a recent AI experiment by the company in which a model was able to learn Bengali, a language it was not assigned to be trained on.

While the pros currently seem to outweigh the cons, we are still in the early days of consumer AI. While exciting, there will come a point where various regulatory structures will come into play to maintain the ethical use of this ever-advancing tech.

That being said, one major benefit already seen is the open source and public approach to the tech, allowing everyone an equal opportunity to explore it for themselves. Sites like godmode.space combines both AutoGPT and BabyAGI models to generate autonomous agents, completely free to use in browser for anyone who wants to give it a try.

In other news, Mastercard launches Web3 music program with AI and NFT integrations.