Software automation has long been a central goal of software engineering, striving for software development that proceeds without human intervention. Recent efforts have leveraged Artificial Intelligence (AI) to advance software automation with notable progress. However, current AI functions primarily as assistants to human developers, leaving software development still dependent on explicit human intervention. This raises a fundamental question: Can AI move beyond its role as an assistant to become a core component of software, thereby enabling genuine software automation? To investigate this vision, we introduce AI-Driven Self-Evolving Software, a new form of software that evolves continuously through direct interaction with users. We demonstrate the feasibility of this idea with a lightweight prototype built on a multi-agent architecture that autonomously interprets user requirements, generates and validates code, and integrates new functionalities. Case studies across multiple representative scenarios show that the prototype can reliably construct and reuse functionality, providing early evidence that such software systems can scale to more sophisticated applications and pave the way toward truly automated software development. We make code and cases in this work publicly available at https://anonymous.4open.science/r/live-software.

The Morning Download delivers daily insights and news on business technology from the CIO Journal team. "Once you analyze communications data, you want to automate around it," said Ted Kummert, UiPath's executive vice president of products and engineering. That can include creating apps that can respond to customers' email queries, rout them to the right corporate division, troubleshoot issues with accounts, or fine-tune orders, billing and deliveries--all without a customer-service worker stepping in. "Businesses still don't have visibility into what people are communicating about, and how to understand that and act on it fast," Mr. Kummert said. Beyond call centers and customer-service departments, he said, Re:infer's natural language processing tools can also be applied to day-to-day communications between internal business units, automating the task of tracking, cataloging and organizing information in real time.

Robots may replace about 800 million jobs globally in the future, making about 30% of all occupations irrelevant. Also, only 7% of businesses don't use AI currently but are looking into it. Stats like these scramble people's heads and make them believe that robots and AI are one and the same, which has never been the case. Instead, businesses and governments use robotics-based applications that can be described as a convergence of AI and robots. Unlike what is shown in most dystopian sci-fi movies or books, not all robots are intelligent.

Last month, the pharma company Takeda began recruiting patients for a clinical trial of a promising Covid-19 treatment involving antibodies drawn from the blood of recovered patients. It normally takes several weeks to collect people's information, determine who may be suitable for the trial, and get the paperwork in order. With the coronavirus still spreading, Takeda sped things up using a quick and simple trick: using software to record tasks like opening files, selecting input fields, and cutting and pasting text. Those tasks can then be repeated for each prospective patient. The result: The paperwork got done in days instead of weeks.

Robotic process automation is becoming an integral part of how businesses operate, and these solutions are making employees both more efficient and effective. PwC estimates that companies can automate approximately 45 percent of workplace activities. By 2024, robotics process automation is forecasted to be a $3.5-billion-dollar market in North America alone. However, robotics won't just change operations -- process automation will change everything from the boardroom to education. The rise of RPA will pave the way for a new role in the C-suite: the Chief Robotics Officer.

AI is spreading to the enterprise at a phenomenal rate. According to a global survey of 260 large organizations conducted by market research firm Vanson Bourne on behalf of Teradata, a data and analytics company, 80 percent of enterprises are investing in AI and one in three "believe their company will need to invest more over the next 36 months to keep pace with competitors." Let's get this out of the way: What is AI? In general, enterprise AI includes things like machine and deep learning, voice recognition and response, Robotic Process Automation (RPA), automated communications and reporting, predictive analytics, and recommendation engines. If you're a purist, you'll recognize that a more accurate description for most of these technologies would be software automation.