Bret Taylor, co-founder and CEO of Sierra, a startup focusing on customer service AI agents for enterprises, believes that human interaction with software will soon transform.
Sierra recently introduced Ghostwriter, an agent that creates other agents. This “agent as a service” tool aims to replace traditional web applications with natural language. Users describe their needs, triggering Ghostwriter to automatically develop and deploy a specialized agent to perform the task.
Replacing software with language-driven prompts is appealing because many enterprise tools are not frequently used, says Taylor, formerly co-CEO of Salesforce.
“You sign into Workday when you onboard or for open enrollment,” Taylor mentioned at the HumanX conference in San Francisco. He suggested that users will use natural language to complete tasks without interacting with software interfaces.
“I truly think that’s where the world is going,” Taylor stated.
He noted Sierra is using Ghostwriter to deploy agents at unmatched speeds, citing Nordstrom’s agent implementation in just four weeks as an example.
Sierra announced last fall that it reached $100 million in annual revenue run rate (ARR) within 21 months of its founding. The company was last valued at $10 billion when it raised $350 million led by Greenoaks Capital in September.
“Most companies don’t want to make software,” Taylor said. “They want solutions to their problems.”
While a shift in software may be underway as Taylor predicts, some technologists and investors tell TechCrunch that AI agent implementation isn’t yet fully autonomous.
Many companies offering AI agents, including Sierra and legal AI startup Harvey, use “forward-deployed” engineers to continually update and refine customer agents for proper functionality.