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经济学人:个人人工智能助手或将很快重塑数字经济 Personal assistants could soon reshape the digital economy
经济学人:个人人工智能助手或将很快重塑数字经济 Personal assistants could soon reshape the digital economyPersonal AI assistants could soon reshape the digital economy But they will first have to prove they are safe for users and helpful for businesses Silicon Valley has long dreamed of building a digital assistant capable enough to rid users of many of the tedious personal tasks that gobble up time and attention. Fictional representations, such as J.A.R.V.I.S. (Just a Rather Very Intelligent System) in the “Iron Man” films, set expectations high. In 2010 Apple, the iPhone-maker, acquired Siri, one such aide. It turned out to be disappointingly moronic. 
Now, amid the current wave of investment in artificial intelligence, the era of personal AI agents may at last have arrived. In the past two months Meta, a social-media giant, and Instinct, a startup, have released two such bots to great fanfare. Instinct’s assistants, which users contact through Apple’s iMessage service or Meta’s WhatsApp, are already checking users into flights, sourcing sold-out concert tickets and arranging dinners with friends, among much else. Muse, Meta’s offering, has similar powers, but can be reached via WhatsApp, a web browser, a mobile app—or, from later this year, Meta’s smart glasses. The big shift from earlier generations of digital assistants, explains M.G. Siegler, an investor and blogger, is that these new bots can work proactively, rather than reacting only to what users explicitly ask for. Instinct “really just works in the way I believe we all want AI to act”, says Noah Shinn, the startup’s 24-year-old founder. Uptake is soaring, so much so that Mr Shinn reckons “in a few years every user in the world that has an internet connection is going to have access to a product like Instinct.” Before then, however, the companies developing personal agents will have to overcome a variety of hurdles to more widespread adoption, including concerns over security and reliability and the reluctance of some big businesses to allow the tools to interact with their systems. Instinct and Meta have pursued very different approaches to attracting users, but both have been wildly successful. In Instinct’s case, users must be invited by a friend or hand-picked from a waitlist. Even so, the number of users has been growing by about 10% daily. Simplicity keeps them coming back: around half of people who have signed up to Instinct continue using it at least once a week after the first month, according to the startup. Giving Instinct’s agents an instruction is as simple as writing a short text; they will then reply with updates on their progress. If Instinct is the private party taking place behind a velvet rope, Muse is the open-invite rave anyone can partake in (so long as they live in America or Canada). By all accounts, the party is heaving—and people are lingering, too. More than 10m people have downloaded the Muse app since its debut a little over a month ago, according to Sensor Tower, a data provider. ChatGPT, the hit chatbot from OpenAI that precipitated the AI boom, had only 3.7m downloads of its mobile app in the same timeframe after its release, around six months after the web version was first unveiled. Muse is retaining users at about the same rates as ChatGPT, too. Persuading partygoers to expose their data, however, is not always easy. Personal agents need private information to reach their potential: without access to a calendar or a credit card they are little more than a glorified chatbot. Some in techland fear that the bots will leave users vulnerable to new threats such as prompt injections, where an attacker sneaks text to an AI through a website’s computer code and deceives it into misbehaving. The companies seem to be taking these concerns seriously. Meta assigns a private server for each Muse user to hold their data and operate their assistant. It has also taught Muse various ways to resist prompt injections, though some security researchers reckon it remains susceptible to malicious instructions. Instinct has revealed less to the public about its cyber-security measures, but Mr Shinn says the service is designed around the principle that users “should always be in control of their data”. On top of that are concerns that personal agents could wreak havoc out of sheer stupidity. Meta has admitted that Muse will make mistakes, and has put a number of guardrails in place to minimise the potential damage when it does. Even so, some users may balk at handing over their credit-card details until they are confident their agent will handle them wisely. Prolonged exposure appears to build that trust. About 40% of Instinct users link a credit card within three weeks. Instinct and Meta also work with Stripe, a payments company, to offer a digital wallet that allows users to make purchases without handing over their banking details directly, which may reassure some. The other big challenge for bot-builders is to persuade other businesses to welcome their agents. Some appear happy to do so. Shopify, a software platform for e-commerce businesses, is working to make it easier for Instinct and Muse to buy from its network of vendors. Meta is also working with Walmart, America’s biggest retailer; Instacart, a grocery-delivery service; and Expedia, a travel-booking site. But other companies are unconvinced. Amazon, for instance, is currently off limits to both Instinct and Muse. The e-emporium generates a good chunk of its profit from showing users ads, and currently has little need for the extra traffic that might come its way via personal agents. Amazon has also complained that Meta failed to give it a heads-up about Muse’s release. Some Silicon Valley bosses say that they are waiting to see how the technology develops before opening their systems to personal agents. In the meantime, the bot-builders are busily courting them. Mr Shinn gives the example of restaurant-booking platforms, some of which Instinct has won over by agreeing to prevent its agents from booking vast numbers of reservations, only to cancel all but one. Even Andy Jassy, Amazon’s boss, appears to be keeping an open mind about the future, saying previously that he is “very hopeful” a fair deal will eventually be reached that allows agents to use its marketplace. Such agreements will be necessary if personal agents are to become a viable business. Mr Zuckerberg has said that he envisages Muse will earn its keep from a combination of subscriptions and a cut of the transactions it facilitates. Mr Shinn reckons that most online spending will eventually flow through personal agents. Which bot-builder wins the biggest share of that business is still up for grabs. Instinct has raised $1.4bn to date. That is a tidy sum for a one-year-old startup, but a pittance compared to what Meta has at its disposal. OpenAI and Google, maker of the Gemini models, both offer their own personal agents. Although these are currently pitched more for business than consumer use, they could expand their focus. Airbnb, a short-term rental platform that wants to make itself into a one-stop-shop for all manner of experiences, has also said that it plans to launch a personal agent next year. Then there is Apple, which in June gave Siri a big makeover. The new bot is less of a clod, but it lacks most of the autonomous capabilities of the agents now winning over consumers. Perhaps the iPhone-maker should consider messaging Instinct. ■
文章导读:
个人AI助手的时代似乎即将来临，随着Meta和Instinct等公司推出新型数字助手，这些工具有望简化用户的日常任务。然而，为了获得更广泛的采用，这些助手必须首先证明其安全性和可靠性。
尽管Instinct和Meta采取了不同的策略吸引用户，Instinct的用户增长迅速，而Muse的下载量也在短时间内突破1000万。尽管如此，用户对数据隐私的担忧以及一些企业对与这些助手互动的犹豫仍然是主要障碍。未来，个人AI助手的成功将取决于它们如何赢得用户信任和商业合作。
重点单词:
Proactive /proʊˈæktɪv/ (adj.) 积极主动的
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：指能够主动采取行动，而不是被动响应外部请求或事件。 Uptake /ˈʌpteɪk/ (n.) 采用，接受
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：指对新技术、产品或想法的接受程度或使用率。 Vulnerable /ˈvʌlnərəbəl/ (adj.) 易受伤害的
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：指容易受到攻击、伤害或损失的状态，通常用于描述人或系统。 Wreak /riːk/ (v.) 造成，带来
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：指造成或引起某种严重的后果或损害。 Guardrails /ˈɡɑrdreɪlz/ (n.) 防护措施
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：指用于限制或控制行为或活动的措施，通常用于确保安全。 Privacy /ˈpraɪvəsi/ (n.) 隐私
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：指个人信息或活动不被他人知晓的状态。 Retaining /rɪˈteɪnɪŋ/ (v.) 保持，维持
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：指继续拥有或保持某种状态或特征。 Facilitate /fəˈsɪlɪteɪt/ (v.) 促进，帮助
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：指使某事变得更容易或更顺利进行。 Autonomous /ɔːˈtɒnəməs/ (adj.) 自主的，自我管理的
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：指能够独立行动或做出决策，而不需要外部控制。 Envisages /ɪnˈvɪzɪdʒɪz/ (v.) 设想，预见
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：指想象或预测未来的情况或可能性。
个人人工智能助手或将很快重塑数字经济
