This week a startup called Cognition AI caused a bit of a stir by releasing a demo showing an artificial intelligence program called Devin performing work usually done by well-paid software engineers. Chatbots like ChatGPT and Gemini can generate code, but Devin went further, planning how to solve a problem, writing the code, and then testing and implementing it. When asked to test how Meta's open source language model Llama 2 performed when accessed via different companies hosting it, Devin generated a step-by-step plan for the project, generated code needed to access the APIs and run benchmarking tests, and created a website summarizing the results. It's always hard to judge staged demos, but Cognition has shown Devin handling a wide range of impressive tasks. It wowed investors and engineers on X, receiving plenty of endorsements, and even inspired a few memes--including some predicting Devin will soon be responsible for a wave of tech industry layoffs.

Sci-fi has been predicting autonomous systems for decades. One example is Tony Stark's J.A.R.V.I.S. from the Avengers: Tony Stark: "J.A.R.V.I.S., are you up?" Tony: "I'd like to open a new project file, index as: Mark II." J: "Shall I store this on the Stark Industries' central database?" Tony: "I don't know who to trust right now. 'Til further notice, why don't we just keep everything on my private server." J: "Working on a secret project, are we, sir?" Tony: "I don't want this winding up in the wrong hands. Maybe in mine, it could actually do some good."

Companies from Meta to Home Depot are flooding earnings calls with commentary about their artificial intelligence efforts. Ever since OpenAI's ChatGPT lit up the internet in November, companies can't stop talking about artificial intelligence. Take this earnings season so far: References to AI and related terms during calls with investors are already up 77% from a year earlier. AI-hungry investors have propelled Nvidia Corp., which makes the chips needed for complex AI computing tasks, into the best-performing stock among mega-caps this year. Relatively obscure firms with AI in their names have also skyrocketed.

Dutch airline KLM has partnered with DigitalGenius to help incorporate machine learning into its customer service, but humans are in no way getting replaced. Robots remain a common theme in the'who will take your job?' discussions accompanying much of the debate about the future of work. However, very few have looked at the complementary rather than the industrial, revolutionary side of things. Monotonous, mundane tasks have forever come under attack from technology, with machines now operating across most manufacturing lines – though that doesn't mean we should all fear change. Take customer care, for example: it's something that seems menial, but would struggle to fully work on automation.