Chinese artificial intelligence unicorn Z.ai, formerly known as Zhipu, has joined forces with Alibaba Group Holding’s cloud computing unit to push a new general-purpose AI agent for smartphones, tablets and desktop computers that handles everyday tasks such as ordering food and making reservations online.
Beijing-based Z.ai, which created the AI agent, said it was free and available on the Android and iOS mobile platforms, as well as for web terminals, according to its announcement via WeChat this week.
AI agents are programs that are capable of autonomously performing tasks on behalf of a user or another system. Essentially, these agents create a plan of specific tasks and subtasks to complete a goal using available resources.
According to the Z.ai announcement, the AI agent’s user “only needs to issue instructions, and the app will be activated to book hotels, order takeaway, and generate videos and podcasts for you”. Other capabilities include installing apps and processing documents.
