Enterprises are beginning to deploy AI agents. However, if organizations plan to deploy agentic ecosystems at scale and improve employee acceptance, they might consider treating AI agents as tools working in the background to avoid intimidating employees who think they have to know how to use these tools. 

Dorit Zilbershot, vice president of AI and Innovation at ServiceNow, told VentureBeat that employees don’t have to know if teams of AI agents are working in the background.  

“There’s so much AI around us that we’re not even aware, and that’s how we are thinking about AI agents in ServiceNow,” Zilbershot said. “It should just work. As an employee, I shouldn’t care if AI agents are in the background.”

Zilbershot said employees become “managers” of AI agents in that they just need to do their regular work. The agents are automatically triggered to finish tasks. 

Enterprises have begun embracing AI agents and exploring how to deploy them at scale, even as generative AI deployment in enterprises has fallen slightly. Zilbershot said ServiceNow’s agent platform, Now Assist, is the company’s “fastest-growing product to date.” Now Assist launched a library of AI agents for customers in September. 

AI agents could ideally automate many workflows. This could include sales or product roadmaps, where one agent can encode customer information, another categorizes it and yet another informs an employee of a change in status. Zilbershot said agents don’t replace human employees, they take some busy work away, so the only time humans have to pay attention to an agent is if there’s an agent who’s supposed to interact with them.

ServiceNow CEO Bill McDermott told VentureBeat in a separate interview that generative AI, particularly applications around agents, “has grown beyond our expectations.”

“We’ve mastered the flow of work and governance, and we’re building agents solving unique problems,” McDermott said. “AI will be in every product we have.”

As AI agents grow in popularity, Zilbershot said enterprises need to understand what makes agents work for their organization and employees. 

Agents and not assistants

Beyond AI agents quietly working in the background, Zilbershot said it’s essential for organizations to understand that agents are not assistants. If not, they risk setting an expectation to users that they will need to learn how to prompt agents instead of letting them work for them autonomously. 

“I think we’re doing a little bit of a disservice to our customers when agents function more as assistants, but we don’t change the name,” Zilbershot said. “It just creates a wrong perception in the market and how people approach working with agents.” 

Zilbershot added AI agents work best when there are other agents they can interact with, so to handle the expected sprawl of agents, orchestrator agents must be deployed to manage all the agents. ServiceNow ships an orchestrator agent with its Now Assist platform. 

Other companies have begun offering enterprises access to use orchestrator agents and build custom AI agents. Crew AI launched an agentic platform this month, while Asana released an agent creator specifically for workflows. 

Partnership with Nvidia

To expand on its agentic ecosystem, ServiceNow announced it will begin building off-the-shelf AI agents using Nvidia’s NIM Agent Blueprint. 

Zilbershot said using the NIM Agent Blueprint helps ServiceNow build more agents at the volume they feel is needed to make agents more efficient.

“We’re expanding our ecosystem since there can be a limit to how much we can build on our own; we want to have a strong partnership with companies like NVIDIA to build native AI agents within the ServiceNow platform,” she said. 

The first agent ServiceNow will build with Nvidia is a Vulnerability Analysis for Container Security AI Agent. The agent will automate vulnerability analysis and will be available on ServiceNow’s agent platform in 2025. 

Zilbershot said the work with Nvidia will be just the first of many possible partnerships ServiceNow will enter into to expand AI agents. 

It’s no secret that Stripe has doubled down on its crypto offerings, enabling crypto purchases in the EU back in July and announcing a Pay with Crypto feature earlier this month. This week, the fintech giant made its dedication even clearer with its largest deal to date: its acquisition of stablecoin platform Bridge for an eye-popping $1.1 billion. Today on TechCrunch’s Equity podcast, hosts Kirsten Korosec, Anthony Ha and Devin Coldewey kicked off the show with their thoughts on the deal – mainly how surprising it is to see anyone spending over $1 billion on crypto in 2024.

But of course, there was so much more startup and venture news for the crew to get into this week. Listen to the full episode to hear about:

Equity will be recording live at Disrupt on Tuesday, so we hope to see you there! 

Equity is TechCrunch’s flagship podcast, produced by Theresa Loconsolo, and posts every Wednesday and Friday. 

Subscribe to us on Apple Podcasts, Overcast, Spotify and all the casts. You also can follow Equity on X and Threads, at @EquityPod. For the full episode transcript, for those who prefer reading over listening, check out our full archive of episodes over at Simplecast.

Apple got a mixed victory in a patent infringement lawsuit against medical device maker Masimo. On Friday, a federal jury determined that Masimo had infringed on some Apple patents, and as part of the verdict, Apple was awarded $250 — yes, just $250 — as a statutory remedy for Masimo’s infringement.

$250 is the statutory minimum damages for the alleged infringement and Apple had sought that figure, Bloomberg Law reports. “We’re not here for the money,” Apple attorney John Desmarais said to jurors in closing arguments, according to the publication.

Masimo’s W1 smartwatch, Freedom smartwatch, and health module infringed on one patent, while Masimo’s charger infringed on another, per the verdict form. The jury also found that Masimo’s infringement was willful.

Pigs are noisy, but AI may be able to interpret their sounds and tell us what they are feeling based on them. A group of scientists has developed an AI algorithm that can decode pigs’ emotions based on their grunts, squeals, and snuffles. The research aims to help farmers understand the emotional and physical health as well as well-being of their animals. Learning that pigs are happy, sad, stressed, or something else can help those raising them work out any potential issues affecting the animals and maintain them in better conditions.

The researchers used thousands of recordings of pigs in all kinds of situations during their lives, right up until they went to the slaughterhouse in some cases. Every squeal and grunt was tagged and labeled depending on whether the pig was experiencing a positive or negative experience. Soon, the AI could determine the emotions that evoked different sounds. For instance, high-pitched squeals often mean fear or stress, while short grunts mean the pig is content.

India is gearing up to celebrate its first National Space Day on August 23, the date on which Chandrayaan-3’s Vikram Lander successfully landed at the ‘Shiv Shakti’ point on the Moon’s south polar region last year.

This day was officially announced by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi as a tribute to the scientists, engineers, and researchers who have driven India’s space program to international prominence. The celebration aims to inspire future generations to pursue careers in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM), while also highlighting the societal benefits of space technology.

“For India, National Space Day symbolises a significant milestone in its space exploration journey. It marks India’s status as the fourth country to successfully land on the Moon and the first to reach its southern polar region. This achievement not only enhances India’s reputation in the global space community but also serves as a catalyst for increased interest in space science among the youth. The day is an opportunity to showcase the impact of space missions on daily life, emphasising how advancements in space technology can lead to improvements in various sectors, including agriculture, communication, and disaster management,” remarked Srimathy Kesan, founder and CEO of Space Kidz India, which is into design, fabrication and launch of small satellites, spacecraft and ground systems.

ISRO Chairman S Somanath, had announced plans for 70 launches over the next five years. This ambitious goal aligns with India’s growing capabilities in space technology and reflects its commitment to expanding its space exploration agenda. Given ISRO’s track record of successful missions and increasing technological advancements, this target is deemed feasible. The planned launches will likely include a mix of satellite deployments, interplanetary missions, and international collaborations, contributing to India’s strategic objectives in space. In addition to this the construction of a new launch pad at Kulasekarapatnam is anticipated to begin before the next National Space Day in 2025. This facility is expected to enhance India’s launch capabilities.

Interestingly India’s space startup ecosystem is rapidly evolving, with several notable companies making significant contributions to the industry. Some of the top Indian space startups include, Agnikul Cosmos that is known for its innovative launch vehicle solutions. Skyroot Aerospace that focuses on developing small satellite launch vehicles and Pixxel that specialises in satellite imagery and data analytics etc.

Various stake holders in the space ecosystem feel that the celebration of National Space Day is expected to foster greater awareness of space science and technology among rural populations. “Through various outreach programs, including educational workshops and mobile exhibitions, ISRO aims to engage students and communities in rural areas. These efforts are designed to demystify space technology and illustrate its relevance to everyday life, thereby inspiring interest and participation in the field of space science among youth in these regions. National Space Day serves as a pivotal platform for celebrating India’s achievements in space exploration while inspiring future generations to engage with science,” added Kesan.

Involving private companies in space exploration is comparatively new for ISRO. The shift has been made possible under the stewardship of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Modi has uniquely encouraged the private sector to participate, which is uncommon for Indian government programmes. In 2020, the government reformed the space sector to encourage private companies’ involvement. On June 20, 2024, Jitendra Singh, Union Minister for Science and Technology, mentioned that space startups in India had grown from just one in 2022 to nearly 200 in 2024. He credited this increase to the sector’s reforms.

These applications from Indian companies requested help with authorisations, guidance, facility access, technology transfers and consultancy. By January 1 this year, various private entities had signed 51 memorandums of understanding (MoUs) and 34 joint project plans to assist with space activities.

“India has effectively gathered technologies from various countries. It has combined them to create something uniquely Indian. Chandrayaan-3 is a great example of this approach. ISRO said the mission cost just $74 million (about Rs 610 crore), which is less than a commercial airplane and surprisingly low for a spacecraft. This was partly achieved by using affordable off-the-shelf parts along with custom-made ones and by partnering with private companies for some development and manufacturing,” remarked space expert Girish Linganna.

The Centre is planning to launch a month-long campaign starting on Friday, August 23, to celebrate the first-ever ‘National Space Day’. This special day will celebrate India’s outstanding space missions and inspire the country’s youths with a theme that embodies the spirit of exploration: ‘Touching Lives while Touching the Moon: India’s Space Saga’. This theme highlights how India’s space missions not only achieve incredible milestones, such as reaching the Moon, but also make a positive impact on everyday life.

The National Space Day is meant to celebrate key achievements in space exploration, showcase progress in space technology and spark greater interest in space science among students. It also aims to increase public awareness about the benefits of space exploration while promoting national pride and unity. This day will be celebrated with a series of exciting events across the country, aimed at honouring India’s space achievements and inspiring future generations.

“With Chandrayaan-3, India has demonstrated its dominant role in growing global space market and aims to have 10 percent share of the global space economy in the next 10 years from $9 billion to $45 billion. Indian Space Policy 2023, ISRO and IN-SPACe have created a framework that provides the opportunity for startups to build critical technologies including small rockets, multi-sensor (fusion) satellite constellations, optical space communication, in-orbit maintenance & manufacturing. As India looks to the future ISRO carries the vision to build human space flight, space station and sending an Indian to the moon by 2040,” said Vishesh Rajaram, Managing Partner at Speciale Invest a seed-stage venture capital firm that invests in founders building technologies of tomorrow.

Interestingly the Indian space technology startup ecosystem has experienced remarkable growth over the past decade, especially post the sector’s liberalization, the government has significantly enabled the private sector’s development through multiple initiatives. Key measures such as the Indian Space Policy, 2023, the National Geospatial Policy, 2022, as well as amendments to the Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) policy highlight the support ISRO and In-SPACe have taken for the private space sector.

“Recently, the announcement of allocation of a Rs 1,000 crore venture capital fund during the Union Budget 2024 and the announcement of a Public-Private Partnership to develop a comprehensive Earth Observation System, are very positive indicators of the belief of the Government to substantially enhance the sector’s progress. As an ecosystem, we still look up to the government for the creation of pathways for commercialisation via the private sector, streamlining and accelerating FDI applications and regulatory processes, and exploring updates to taxation policies on intellectual property in the deep tech sector. These efforts will support innovation and drive continued growth and success,” remarked Akash Yalagach, CTO and Co-Founder, KaleidEO.

The best British shows on Netflix run the gamut from reality shows to documentaries, dramas, horror, and everything in between. Many have won awards — including Black Mirror, The Crown, and Baby Reindeer — while others fly under the radar. If you’re looking for a good British show to watch, Netflix is home to tons of them.

If you think you’ve watched them all, think again. This curated list pulls from the best the streaming service has to offer — with many of these shows starring actors you might be familiar with from other American projects, like Wednesday’s Emma Myers in A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder and The White Lotus’ Theo James in The Gentlemen. Others feature relative unknowns, proving that the U.K. has some of the most talented actors and storytellers around.

Need more recommendations? Then check out the best new shows to stream this week, as well as the best shows on Netflix, best shows on Hulu, best shows on Amazon Prime Video, the best shows on Max, and best shows on Disney+.

Related Topics: Netflix | Hulu | Amazon Prime | More Streaming Services