Source : INDIA TODAY NEWS
Meta is testing a new personal AI agent that is designed to do much more than answer questions. Called Project Hatch, the agent is currently being made available to employees for testing and can perform online tasks on a user’s behalf, from booking restaurants to shopping and finding a dog sitter.
Details of Hatch come from an internal Meta memo seen by Business Insider. The company describes it as a personal agent that can help users with different parts of their lives, including their health, relationships and personal finances.
advertisement
Unlike a conventional chatbot, Hatch has its own computer and can interact with websites and online services. It can fill out forms, make purchases and carry out detailed research. The agent can also connect with services such as email, calendars, Spotify, Instagram and OpenTable.
Meta is also giving Hatch a high level of personalisation. Users can name their agent, decide how it communicates and tell it what information to focus on. The system is designed to remember details about the user and can continue working in the background even when the app is closed. Users can also approve sensitive actions before they are completed.
One Meta product manager said their Hatch agent, named Veda, had helped find a dog sitter, buy a Father’s Day gift and make changes to their sleeping habits.
The project fits into CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s wider push to develop personal AI agents. Zuckerberg has said Meta wants to build “personal superintelligence for everyone.” Hatch could eventually become a paid consumer product, although Meta has not confirmed its pricing or launch date. A previous report suggested the company had considered charging as much as $200 a month.
Meta’s AI push also came with a layoff plan
Hatch arrives as Meta continues to rethink how AI should be used inside the company. Earlier this year, Zuckerberg and senior executives worked on a restructuring plan known as Project OT, or Organization Transformation, which aimed to make Meta more AI-focused.
According to Reuters, the plan considered reducing the size of some teams by as much as 60 per cent, while replacing layers of traditional management with smaller groups of employees supported by AI tools and agents. Meta also explored using smaller “pods” of workers to develop products.
The company ultimately carried out a 10 percent workforce reduction in May, but Zuckerberg cancelled a second planned round of cuts that was expected later in the year. Employee backlash and concerns about whether AI agents were delivering the expected productivity improvements contributed to the change in direction, Reuters reported.
Meta has confirmed Project OT existed, but said the most aggressive scenarios were part of planning exercises and were not intended to reduce the company’s entire workforce by 60 per cent.
– Ends
SOURCE :- TIMES OF INDIA
