Bret Taylor, co-founder and CEO of Sierra, a company developing AI agents for enterprise customer service, firmly believes that human-software interaction is poised for a significant transformation.
Sierra recently introduced Ghostwriter, an innovative “agent as a service” tool capable of creating other AI agents. This new offering aims to shift enterprise interactions from conventional click-based applications to natural language. Users can articulate their requirements, and Ghostwriter will independently develop and implement a tailored agent to fulfill the request.
Taylor, formerly co-CEO of Salesforce, finds the concept of substituting software with language-based prompts particularly compelling, noting that many current enterprise tools see infrequent use.
During the HumanX conference in San Francisco this week, Taylor remarked, “You sign into Workday when you onboard as a new employee, and maybe for open enrollment.” He posited that users will soon leverage natural language to accomplish tasks, bypassing direct interaction with complex software interfaces, rather than needing to learn them.
Taylor asserted, “I truly think that’s where the world is going.”
He further noted that Sierra is already utilizing Ghostwriter to deploy agents with remarkable speed. As an illustration, Taylor shared that his company implemented an agent for Nordstrom in merely four weeks.
Last fall, Sierra reported achieving a $100 million annual revenue run rate (ARR) in under 21 months since its inception. The company’s most recent valuation was $10 billion, following a $350 million funding round led by Greenoaks Capital in September.
Taylor stated, “Most companies don’t want to make software. They want solutions to their problems.”
Despite Taylor’s prediction of a significant change in software, various technologists and investors have informed TechCrunch that current AI agent implementation is not yet fully autonomous.
Numerous firms, such as Sierra and legal AI startup Harvey, that purport to provide AI agents, actually rely on “forward-deployed” engineers to continuously update and refine customer agents for optimal performance.