Virtual employees could join workforces this year and transform how companies work, according to the chief executive of OpenAI. The first artificial intelligence agents may start working for organisations this year, wrote Sam Altman, as AI firms push for uses that generate returns on substantial investment in the technology. Microsoft, the biggest backer of the company behind ChatGPT, has already announced the introduction of AI agents – tools that can carry out tasks autonomously – with the blue-chip consulting firm McKinsey among the early adopters. "We believe that, in 2025, we may see the first AI agents'join the workforce' and materially change the output of companies," wrote Altman in a blogpost published on Monday. OpenAI is reportedly planning to launch an AI agent codenamed "Operator" this month, after Microsoft announced its Copilot Studio product and rival Anthropic launched the Claude 3.5 Sonnet AI model, which can carry out tasks on the computer such as moving a mouse cursor and typing text.

TikTok collects more of your data than you may realize. Kurt "CyberGuy" Knutsson shows you some tips on how to protect your privacy. Technology has been taking over the world, especially within the last decade with the advent of the gig economy. Now, more and more companies are figuring out how to make themselves more efficient by becoming more tech friendly. CLICK TO GET KURT'S CYBERGUY NEWSLETTER WITH QUICK TIPS, TECH REVIEWS, SECURITY ALERTS AND EASY HOW-TO'S TO MAKE YOU SMARTER However, China is taking this to the next extreme with the growing popularity of virtual people.

Data quality rules are the hidden champions of data cleansing tools – these help improve the quality of the master data records in data quality tools. Based on different data quality dimensions, data stewards establish different quality rules to determine if a data set is of good or poor quality. Creating data quality rules can be very time consuming. An easy approach could be to adopt proven algorithms, which already work very well in the context of customer and vendor data within our data sharing community. Today, we would like to introduce one of our virtual employees to you: Our data quality rule number 1297;"DQR-1297", for short.

Organizations today are focused on identifying avenues to introduce AI into daily tasks and deliverables. While the common perception is that it creates a sense of insecurity among employees, contrary to this belief, employees are in fact more receptive and ready to deploy AI into their work, a study by Dale Carnegie reveals. During a roundtable discussion on "Preparing people for the Human Machine Partnerships of the future," conducted by Dale Carnegie in New Delhi, experts explored ways in which industry leaders can incorporate AI technology into their HR Tech, performance feedback systems, upskilling initiatives, etc. The panel discussion was led by Dale Carnegie representatives including Pallavi Jha, MD & Chairperson, Dale Carnegie of India; Mark Marone, Director - Research & Thought Leadership, Dale Carnegie and Associates; Juliette Dennett, Managing Director, Dale Carnegie Northern England; and Jordan Wang, Managing Director New South Wales, Dale Carnegie Australia. The survey that saw participation from 3,846 respondents across 13 countries, aimed to assess the readiness of the global workforce to accept AI in their work, feedback systems, skilling needs, etc., highlighted that 42 percent of the organizations globally are already using AI in one form or the other.

Employers can now practice laying off an ultra-realistic, AI-powered virtual employee in order to develop their soft skills before they have to fire someone in real life. Capable of realistically engaging trainees in conversation and displaying appropriate emotions, poor virtual employee Barry Thompson gets the sack over and over again. However, his reaction -- which can range from calm acceptance to angry and defensive shouting -- varies depending on the user's handing of the scenario. The firm who created Barry have also developed a number of other virtual training scenarios, from negotiation and making sales to giving feedback to subordinates. Barry is a virtual employee created by Talespin Studios.

For years, marketers have talked about brands as having personalities. Now they have the tools to bring those brands to life – virtually at least. Rapid developments in artificial intelligence (AI) are being combined with Academy Award-winning animation skills to create virtual humans that are the closest yet to flesh and blood. And for brands, that offers the opportunity to put a very human-looking face on a corporate body. One of the latest iterations of these virtual humans comes from Auckland-based company, Soul Machines, whose co-founder and CEO, Mark Sagar's ground-breaking work in computer-generated faces on films, King Kong and Avatar, was recognised with consecutive Oscars.

In the world of global business, it's likely you're going to have to learn how to master the art of digital leadership at some point -- whether that's to manage an entire team of displaced freelancers, to communicate with other offices, or to outsource specific roles. The word virtual sounds pretty scary. Speaking to a friend of mine, he said the idea of a virtual workforce made him feel panicked about "a lack of control", in other words, he envisioned an army of computers taking over every aspect of his life. So let's just make something clear here, the virtual employees that I'm talking about are not robots, they're real people who work remotely. That's something important to bear in mind, as on many levels it's not so different from working with regular employees.

"She," in this case, is an avatar created by IPsoft, the global information technology services company. In a demo shown to Tech Insider, she shifts her weight from side to side when waiting for someone to speak, and smiles in between questions. If you tell her you're upset about something, she'll frown in empathy. If all goes according to plan, Amelia will be the customer service agent of the future, an "employee" who can field customer support questions for people without needing to bringing a human in. IPsoft solutions manager Benjamin Case tells Tech Insider that these low-level tasks are remarkably consistent across industries.