Link: Could This Startup Be Amazon’s Horse in the Agent Race? — The Information

There are several flavors of AI agents under development, but MultiOn is part of a group developing web-based ones powered by large language models. MultiOn has told outsiders that it tweaked open-source LLMs to make them “agentic,” or agent-like, so they can, for example, use a web browser to search airline websites and click the “buy” button. For instance, when a customer makes a request, such as “book me a morning flight to Seattle tomorrow in first class,” an LLM aims to understand the customer’s request, breaks it down into a series of tasks, and incorporates information it has about the customer, such as whether they prefer a window or aisle seat, according to someone familiar with how it works. Even if Amazon develops its own agent technology and doesn’t end up working with MultiOn, the startup has other possible paths to generating revenue. It recently launched an application programming interface for app developers to incorporate its web-based agent in their products, such as a travel-booking site. Developers pay four cents for each step the MultiOn agent completes as part of a multistep task, according to the startup’s website. A couple thousand developers are using a beta version of the API, according to a person with direct knowledge. Eventually, MultiOn could launch its own consumer app or device, according to the person with knowledge of the plans. But in all of these scenarios, the startup will need to compete with the biggest AI developers. #

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Yoooo, this is a quick note on a link that made me go, WTF? Find all past links here.