Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Ask HN: Are there any real examples of AI agents doing work?

news.ycombinator.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

11–20 of 81 posts

Re: Ask HN: Are there any real examples of AI agents doing work?

#11

Post by codingdave »

idkwhattocallme wrote: post #4

sales ops here. I was just tasked with figuring out how to use AI to use previous quotes to generate new quotes so sales people don't spend so much time creating quotes. Seems like the perfect thing for an agent. Anyone done this?

Sounds like a poorly thought out requirement. If you are tasked with speeding up the generation of quotes and find that AI can do the job well, that is perfectly reasonable. But if you are told what tool to use to make it happen, whomever tasked you with it doesn't understand that AI is a tool, not a goal. (I say that often enough, I may need to put it on t-shirts.)

Re: Ask HN: Are there any real examples of AI agents doing work?

#12

Post by PhilippGille »

Lionga wrote: post #9
jimkri wrote: post #8

I've created agents for the following: - ICP / Sales Agent: I hired an offshore resource and built a GPT that they can send titles and other identifiers to, and it would say if it was in our ICP or not. I created it for a specific process that has outlined steps and FAQ from that person on things they have encountered, I plan on adding more questions and answers. This was super helpful on saving time on answering que…

Isn't that just simple glorified workflow automation? Shouldn't "agents" do and decide what to do themselves based on the holy prophecy of VC and AI Startups ?

Yes, for example from Anthropic's definition [1]:

> Workflows are systems where LLMs and tools are orchestrated through predefined code paths.

> Agents, on the other hand, are systems where LLMs dynamically direct their own processes and tool usage, maintaining control over how they accomplish tasks.

[1] https://www.anthropic.com/research/building-effective-agents

Re: Ask HN: Are there any real examples of AI agents doing work?

#13

Post by mattmanser »

schappim wrote: post #6
idkwhattocallme wrote: post #4

sales ops here. I was just tasked with figuring out how to use AI to use previous quotes to generate new quotes so sales people don't spend so much time creating quotes. Seems like the perfect thing for an agent. Anyone done this?

>> Anyone done this? Yes, we have and more! We sell maker and STEM education electronics, but the profit margins on products like Raspberry Pis, Micro:bits, and Arduinos are, well, pretty slim. This has pushed us to become extremely efficient; so much so that we ended up creating our own AI-agent-based ERP platform called Koi [1] In essence, our work is built on the shoulders of giants like OpenAI’s Assistant API, An…

Your spiel here is much better than the website you've linked.

What you've linked sounds like you're selling a glorified shipping label printer.

I'm curious how this differs from standard TA/TMS systems that have been around for decades. I work in the space and there are plenty of TA/TMS systems that print shipping labels and fulfil orders, that update stock levels and send out tracking emails + SMS messages, integrate with carriers for shipment updates, that integrate with Shopify, eBay, Etsy, big commerce, etc.

They didn't need AI to do any of that. What's the advantage you're finding?

Here's an example that seems to operate in Australia:

https://www.shipstation.com/

Re: Ask HN: Are there any real examples of AI agents doing work?

#14

Post by schappim »

mattmanser wrote: post #13
schappim wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>> Anyone done this? Yes, we have and more! We sell maker and STEM education electronics, but the profit margins on products like Raspberry Pis, Micro:bits, and Arduinos are, well, pretty slim. This has pushed us to become extremely efficient; so much so that we ended up creating our own AI-agent-based ERP platform called Koi [1] In essence, our work is built on the shoulders of giants like OpenAI’s Assistant API, An…

Your spiel here is much better than the website you've linked. What you've linked sounds like you're selling a glorified shipping label printer. I'm curious how this differs from standard TA/TMS systems that have been around for decades. I work in the space and there are plenty of TA/TMS systems that print shipping labels and fulfil orders, that update stock levels and send out tracking emails + SMS messages, integra…

Shipping is a fraction of what the system does. To completely automate shipping you need an understanding of inventory etc. To do automated customer service, you need knowledge of shipping, inventory etc.

Re: Ask HN: Are there any real examples of AI agents doing work?

#15

Post by mattmanser »

schappim wrote: post #14
mattmanser wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Your spiel here is much better than the website you've linked. What you've linked sounds like you're selling a glorified shipping label printer. I'm curious how this differs from standard TA/TMS systems that have been around for decades. I work in the space and there are plenty of TA/TMS systems that print shipping labels and fulfil orders, that update stock levels and send out tracking emails + SMS messages, integra…

Shipping is a fraction of what the system does. To completely automate shipping you need an understanding of inventory etc. To do automated customer service, you need knowledge of shipping, inventory etc.

That's why they call it logistics and not shipping.

Re: Ask HN: Are there any real examples of AI agents doing work?

#16

Post by readyplayernull »

I like this distinction from automation by Bartosz Pucek:

At its core, an Agent is software that can:

    Take in a task description

    Break it down into steps

    Execute those steps using available tools

    Adapt its approach based on feedback
The key distinction from traditional automation: Agents handle variance and uncertainty by replanning rather than failing when their happy path breaks.

Source: https://newsletter.pucek.com/p/2025-the-state-of-ai-agents-a...

Re: Ask HN: Are there any real examples of AI agents doing work?

#17

Post by threatripper »

codingdave wrote: post #11
idkwhattocallme wrote: post #4

sales ops here. I was just tasked with figuring out how to use AI to use previous quotes to generate new quotes so sales people don't spend so much time creating quotes. Seems like the perfect thing for an agent. Anyone done this?

Sounds like a poorly thought out requirement. If you are tasked with speeding up the generation of quotes and find that AI can do the job well, that is perfectly reasonable. But if you are told what tool to use to make it happen, whomever tasked you with it doesn't understand that AI is a tool, not a goal. (I say that often enough, I may need to put it on t-shirts.)

For him and his boss and the boss of his boss it may well be a goal to use more AI in business processes. It may be decided in the strategy to spend X% on AI in the next 3 years. So you will do exactly that and not question if it makes sense at all.

Re: Ask HN: Are there any real examples of AI agents doing work?

#18

Post by A4ET8a8uTh0_v2 »

oraphalous wrote: post #2

I too would like to hear some examples. On the one hand you have gurus claiming that AI agents are going to all make all SaaS redundant, on the other claiming that AI isn't going to take my coding job, but I need to adapt my workflows to incorporate AI. We all need to start preparing now for the changes that AI is going to cause. But these two claims aren't compatible. If AGI and these super agents are that bonkers a…

I have not seen one in production, but I did see 'agent products' sold to financial companies for compliance purposes ( sanctions, mortgage, other regs ). Fascinating stuff that got me mildly interested in MS troupe.

Re: Ask HN: Are there any real examples of AI agents doing work?

#20

Post by _sword »

A4ET8a8uTh0_v2 wrote: post #18
oraphalous wrote: post #2

I too would like to hear some examples. On the one hand you have gurus claiming that AI agents are going to all make all SaaS redundant, on the other claiming that AI isn't going to take my coding job, but I need to adapt my workflows to incorporate AI. We all need to start preparing now for the changes that AI is going to cause. But these two claims aren't compatible. If AGI and these super agents are that bonkers a…

I have not seen one in production, but I did see 'agent products' sold to financial companies for compliance purposes ( sanctions, mortgage, other regs ). Fascinating stuff that got me mildly interested in MS troupe.

Could you name any products?
Post reply on HN