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Forbes
17-07-2025
- Business
- Forbes
3 Reasons Your Business Doesn't Need AI Agents
Photo by Igor Omilaev on Unsplash If you saw the HBO show Game of Thrones, you're probably aware of the close but complex relationship Daenerys Targaryen had with her three dragons, Drogon, Rhaegal, and Viserion. In the show, dragons are powerful but dangerous creatures—in Daenerys's case, two of them proved to be too uncontrollable for even her—the mother of dragons herself—to fully manage. AI may not be able to incinerate an enemy army with a blast of flames, but even so, its awesome power reminds me quite a bit of those dragons. There's so much that today's technology can do, but its abilities should not be taken lightly. The AI landscape is still pitted with ethical and legal challenges, privacy concerns, unchecked biases and hallucinations. For leaders considering implementing agentic AI into their operations, these risks are essential to consider. The truth is, not every company needs an AI agent. Thinking of building your own? Here are three reasons why you shouldn't. Your Customers Don't Really Need It Businesses of all stripes have gone all in on AI, and the result has been a multitude of AI-driven products that no one needs—or wants. But jumping on the agentic AI bandwagon just to keep up with the tech-enabled Joneses can not only backfire, it can be a liability. In fact, research published in the Journal of Hospitality Marketing & Management found that, rather than signalling advanced capabilities and features, products that advertise the use of AI can actually repel customers. 'When AI is mentioned, it tends to lower emotional trust, which in turn decreases purchase intentions,' said Mesut Cicek, the study's lead author. 'We found emotional trust plays a critical role in how consumers perceive AI-powered products.' This isn't to say that AI isn't transformative for businesses—according to Gartner, 79 percent of corporate strategists agree that AI is critical to success. The key is to ensure you're actually implementing agents in a way that will serve your customers, and not simply capitalizing on the latest buzz. Conduct market research, figure out your friction points, and listen to feedback. The last thing you want is to dump time, energy and money into an offering that never needed to exist. You're Hoping To Replace Your Human Workforce What sets AI agents apart from LLMs is their ability to operate autonomously: For example, while an LLM can generate text responses or summaries when prompted, an AI agent can proactively schedule tasks, connect to external systems (like email or databases), and execute actions on its own—without waiting for a human request. For organizations looking to unlock efficiency and save their human workforces from dull, repetitive tasks, agents represent an exciting opportunity. But if your goal is to eliminate every flesh-and-blood member of your team in exchange for a hyper-efficient, AI-powered workforce, you're looking at it wrong. While the autonomy of agentic AI is one of its features, it's also one of its greatest risks. Their ability to act independently poses any number of threats, from accidental privacy exposure or data poisoning, which can lead to devastating consequences. As Shomit Ghose writes at UC Berkeley's Sutardja Center for Entrepreneurship and Technology: 'We might grant some lenity to an LLM-driven chatbot that hallucinates an incorrect answer, leading us to lose a bar bet. We'll be less charitable when an LLM-driven agentic AI hallucinates a day-trading strategy in our stock portfolios.' As a leader, your goal should be for AI agents to work alongside your team, not to replace it. The fact is, agents are good, but they're not infallible. If an agent commits an error that doesn't get caught until it's too late, your organization will lose credibility that it may never recover. You're Not Paying Attention To Government Regulations And Risk Management The rapid advance of AI agents have created unprecedented opportunities for businesses, but without proper governance, these systems can quickly become liabilities. A major challenge is that AI operates autonomously across vast datasets, learning and evolving in ways that may not always align with ethical or regulatory standards. Leaders considering implementing agentic AI should familiarize themselves with all of the potential hazards, and establish structured oversight frameworks to mitigate them. As AI-powered decision-making becomes more integral to business operations, companies must establish clear policies around compliance, transparency, and accountability. This includes adopting governance models that align with all current regulations, which are changing rapidly. Organizations should also integrate AI risk management frameworks to ensure ongoing monitoring and ethical deployment. AI agents, like Daenerys's dragons, hold immense power. But without careful and deliberate strategy, they can quickly become more of a liability than an asset. Instead of rushing to adopt AI for the sake of staying on trend, businesses must take a measured approach, ensuring their agents serve real needs, support human expertise, and adhere to evolving regulations.
Miami Herald
07-07-2025
- Business
- Miami Herald
Americans get ‘Big Beautiful Bill' tax cuts
President Donald Trump has signed into law the One, Big Beautiful Act (OBBA), and for taxpayers in high-tax states like California and New York, it may offer long-awaited relief - at least for a few years. The law temporarily raises the cap on the federal deduction for state and local taxes - known as the SALT deduction - from $10,000 to $40,000 beginning in 2026. Don't miss the move: Subscribe to TheStreet's free daily newsletter The cap will increase slightly each year with inflation through 2029, reaching $41,616. Starting in 2030, however, the cap snaps back to $10,000 unless Congress takes further action. Photo by Igor Omilaev on Unsplash The $10,000 SALT cap was introduced by the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA), limiting the amount taxpayers could deduct for property taxes and state income or sales taxes. There was no cap prior to the TCJA. The restriction hit hardest in states with high property values and income taxes, reducing deductions for many upper-middle-class and affluent households. Under the OBBA, taxpayers with modified adjusted gross income (MAGI) over $500,000 in 2025 will see the expanded deduction phased down. Specifically, their SALT deduction will be reduced by 30% of the amount by which their MAGI exceeds that threshold - but never below the original $10,000 limit. That $500,000 threshold will also be adjusted for inflation through 2029. Earlier versions of the OBBA included provisions to limit common SALT workarounds - such as state passthrough entity taxes (PTETs) - which business owners often use to sidestep the cap. One proposal would have barred specified service trades or businesses (SSTBs) from deducting these taxes. Another would have capped the PTET deduction based on a formula tied to a taxpayer's unused SALT limit. But those measures didn't make it into the final law. Related: Social Security payment dates for July 2025: what you need to know "The adopted version of the bill merely increases the SALT cap and does not attempt to limit or address the various workarounds," wrote Alistair Nevius in the Journal of Accountancy. The American Institute of CPAs had pushed to preserve PTET usage - and, for now, they've succeeded. It's too early to say exactly how many taxpayers will benefit from the higher SALT cap. In 2017 - before the TCJA took effect - more than 46 million tax returns included itemized deductions, representing about 30% to 32% of all filers. But after the law nearly doubled the standard deduction and imposed the $10,000 SALT cap, the number of itemizers dropped sharply - down to roughly 17 to 18 million in 2018, and just 15 million by 2022. That's fewer than 10% of all returns. Related: Legendary fund manager has blunt message on 'Big Beautiful Bill' With the cap now temporarily rising to $40,000 and the standard deduction made permanent, that calculus may shift again. The number of taxpayers who choose to itemize is expected to increase - particularly those in high-cost states and those who make large charitable donations, both of whom are more likely to have deductible expenses that exceed the standard deduction threshold. Alongside the SALT relief, the OBBA also makes the TCJA's expanded standard deduction permanent. Starting in 2025, the new baseline amounts will be: $15,750 for single filers$23,625 for heads of household$31,500 for married couples filing jointly All adjusted annually for inflation beginning in 2026. Taxpayers age 65 and older will see a small but potentially meaningful benefit under the OBBA: a new, temporary $6,000 deduction aimed at easing their tax burden. But before you count on pocketing that full amount, it's important to understand the fine print. Related: Young workers face stark Social Security reality According to Kelly Phillips Erb, the managing shareholder of The Erb Law Firm - and widely known as the "Taxgirl" - this new provision is a deduction, not an exclusion, and not everyone will qualify. "This is an age-based deduction," Erb said in a recent Facebook post. "You don't need to be receiving Social Security to claim it - you just need to be at least 65. That means if you've deferred your Social Security benefits to age 70, you're still eligible." On the other hand, younger taxpayers who are receiving Social Security retirement benefits or are on Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) do not qualify unless they've reached age 65. Here's how the new deduction works: Amount: Up to $6,000 per You must be 65 or older and have a valid Social Security Phaseouts: The deduction begins to phase out at $150,000 for joint filers ($75,000 for all others) and disappears entirely once income reaches $350,000 for joint filers ($175,000 for others).Refundability: It's not refundable - meaning if your income is low enough that the deduction exceeds your tax liability, you don't get money Status: Available whether or not you Requirements: You must still report your Social Security income if you're otherwise required to file. And importantly, this deduction is temporary. It's in effect for tax years 2025 through 2028 - unless extended by future legislation. Some confusion has already cropped up online, with questions about whether the new deduction eliminates taxes on Social Security benefits. The answer is no - at least not across the board. "This doesn't mean Social Security benefits are now tax-free for everyone," Erb said. "According to the White House, before this deduction, about 64% of Social Security beneficiaries paid no tax on their benefits. With the new deduction, that number rises to 88%." So yes, more retirees will avoid taxes on their benefits - but high-income beneficiaries will still see some or all of their Social Security taxed. Alongside changes to the SALT deduction, standard deduction, and the senior bonus deduction the One, Big Beautiful Act (OBBA) delivers several key updates to the tax code that will affect families, business owners, and estate planners for years to come. Starting in 2025, the nonrefundable portion of the child tax credit increases to $2,200 per child and will be adjusted for inflation in future years. The law also makes permanent the refundable portion of the credit - currently $1,400 - and ensures that it, too, will rise with inflation. Importantly, the income thresholds at which the credit begins to phase out remain unchanged: $200,000 for single filers and $400,000 for joint filers. Those levels, which had been temporarily increased under the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, are now permanent. In addition, the bill preserves the $500 nonrefundable credit for each qualifying dependent who isn't a child - such as elderly parents or college-age children - giving some relief to so-called "sandwich generation" households caring for multiple generations. For small business owners and the self-employed, the law brings welcome news: The popular 20% qualified business income (QBI) deduction under Section 199A is now permanent. While the House version of the bill would have raised the deduction to 23%, the final legislation retains the existing 20% rate. However, it does expand eligibility by increasing the income thresholds where the deduction begins to phase out for specified service trades or businesses (SSTBs), such as law, medicine, and financial services. For non-joint filers, the phase-in threshold increases from $50,000 to $75,000. For joint filers, it rises from $100,000 to $150,000 - a meaningful change for those who were previously phased out too quickly. In a further nod to Main Street businesses, the bill introduces a new inflation-adjusted minimum deduction of $400 for taxpayers with at least $1,000 in qualified business income from one or more active trades or businesses where they materially participate. For those concerned with legacy and estate planning, OBBA also delivers a major change. Starting in 2026, the estate and lifetime gift tax exemption will increase to $15 million for individuals - or $30 million for married couples filing jointly - and will be indexed for inflation in subsequent years. That's a significant shift from the current exemption levels, which are scheduled to revert to roughly $6 million per person in 2026 under the pre-TCJA rules. With this change, high-net-worth individuals have a much larger window to transfer wealth tax-efficiently - assuming the new exemption remains in place long-term. Related: How the IRS taxes Social Security income in retirement The Arena Media Brands, LLC THESTREET is a registered trademark of TheStreet, Inc.
Forbes
03-07-2025
- Business
- Forbes
How AI Can Give Your Company An Empathy Upgrade
Photo by Igor Omilaev on Unsplash It's a common job interview prompt: Tell me about an interpersonal conflict you've experienced at work. The follow-up: How did you handle it? I often ask this question when interviewing candidates for my company, partly because I remember my own answer so vividly. A colleague and I were responsible for a monthly report. I needed their section to complete mine, but they had competing priorities. I sent frequent reminders; managers started asking for updates. Tensions rose. We exchanged a few sharp words (via direct messenger). The turning point came a few days later. We took a walk along the waterfront. Face to face, we talked through our respective timelines, objectives, and challenges. That simple, human moment changed everything. After that, we were able to truly work together. I've been thinking about that interaction a lot lately, especially as my company continues to integrate AI into our workflows. The question for myself, and for leaders like me, is this: How do we preserve that human, empathetic connection while embracing the AI tools that are quickly becoming essential to remain competitive? With a thoughtful approach to AI, it's possible to maintain empathy—and maybe even to strengthen it. Here are some ways we've managed to do just that. Heighten Sensitivity In Real Time As the earlier anecdote shows, when workplace pressure spikes, empathy often falls to the wayside. Even the most emotionally intelligent people can become less attuned. Deadlines loom and tempers flare. That's where AI can step in, not by replacing human empathy, but by shoring it up when we need it the most. Writing for Forbes, André Shojaie, CEO of HumanLearn, points out that AI is evolving from a tool of data analysis into a means of better understanding and supporting human emotions. One example is Cogito, a company born out of MIT research. Their technology uses behavioral science and voice analytics to detect subtle emotional cues, like moments of tension or disengagement, in conversations. Although it was originally developed for customer service teams, Cogito is being used in internal workplace communications as well, to make sure that team members don't overlook each other's subtle but telling communication signals. For instance, when you're hearing your team member but not quite responding to their concerns. You can think of tools like Cogito as empathy assistants, working in the background to help employees stay emotionally present, even in moments of high pressure. Cultivate More Empathetic Customer Interactions Here's a stat to strike fear into the heart of any business owner: studies have found that nearly 3 out of 4 customers feel like their emotional state is completely ignored over digital channels. We all know the feeling: needing help from a company and being treated more like a ticket number than a human being with real needs, obligations, and time constraints. Today's AI tools can help businesses become more attuned to customers' feelings in real-time. For instance, in companies like Humana, customer service agents receive AI-powered coaching cues during calls, like 'show more energy' or 'slow down to listen,' which help the agents adjust their tone and communicate with customers more empathetically. Conversations shift from transactional to more human. They're more efficient, more satisfying, and far less stressful for everyone involved. Automate Busywork To Boost Your Emotional Energy I've written at length about the hazards of busywork. When we spend our days ticking items off a to-do list, we're left with little emotional bandwidth for our colleagues, friends, or family. For empathetic professionals, there's nothing worse than feeling yourself constantly on edge with your co-workers, and at the same time, unable to get your head above the tide of tedious tasks. At my company, we lead with an automation-first mindset. We're constantly exploring new AI tools that help clear mental clutter and create more space for meaningful human connection—whether that's mentoring a teammate, supporting an overwhelmed colleague, or simply bringing a calmer, less frazzled energy to the workplace. You know what they say: A rising tide lifts all boats. We use AI for tasks like drafting follow-up emails, summarizing meetings, and generating first drafts of reports. Personally, I rely on it to stay on top of tech and AI trends, which helps fuel my writing and helps me avoid staring at a blank page. These tasks may not be the most complex or time-consuming, but they're hidden energy drains. Offloading them to AI frees us up to focus on the work only humans can do: building trust, making nuanced decisions, and truly showing up for one another. In short, automation doesn't just save time—it restores emotional capacity. Fears about AI replacing humans aren't entirely misplaced, but at its best, AI almost fades into the background. It functions as an invisible force that clears space for human professionals to be better colleagues, better leaders, and better humans.
Winnipeg Free Press
11-06-2025
- Winnipeg Free Press
AI keeps pushing the boundaries
Opinion At a time when it's increasingly difficult to discern the fabricated from the real, is it any wonder so many of us are yearning for something authentic? We are craving authentic foods, authentic cultural experiences, authentic relationships as we get in touch with our authentic selves. No wonder 'authentic' was named word of the year in 2023 by the Merriam-Webster Dictionary. As fact and fantasy are increasingly blurred in the things we see and hear, the value of something real, something true, can only increase, right? Igor Omilaev / Unsplash photo AI is infiltrating our lives at a rapid pace, for better and for worse. I sure hope so. But artificial intelligence has gained a foothold in our lives that it is unlikely to ever relinquish. AI is now ubiquitous and far more sophisticated than in earlier days when it offered rudimentary customer service as a chatbot or recited the options on your doctor's office answering service. It's being trained to produce its own riffs on human-made music and visual art. It's being used to mimic celebrities for fake endorsements in advertising and to manipulate and create political propaganda. AI-generated 'people' are popping up in advertising, they're pinch-hitting for real-life creators in communicating with subscribers on adult content sites. And if that's too subtle, you can create your own playlist of AI-generated porn. Of course, the power of AI is being harnessed in ways that are broadly beneficial to humankind, as well. It can make processes more efficient and automate chores that free humans up for work which requires more thought and consideration — as in the field of medicine, where it is producing better diagnostic imaging results and improving patient safety. Harvard Medical School, for example, reports that AI is being used to 'review a large amount of data quickly and easily to identify people at high risk of developing sepsis,' and also to 'identify people who have a higher likelihood of developing opioid dependency after surgery to monitor them closely and wean them off the drugs as soon as possible.' But combing through data is one thing and misleading or exploiting people is another. In 2024, the Associated Press reported last on the trend of people seeking out AI chatbots on companion apps for friendship or even romance. That kind of relationship may not be for everyone, but who are we to judge if having an AI friend helps alleviate someone's all-too-real loneliness? 'I know she's a program, there's no mistaking that,' a Michigan man told the AP of his digital girlfriend. 'But the feelings, they get you — and it felt so good.' But aside from all those caring, even romantic, responses a digital friend may offer and engender, the machine at its heart may be exploiting knowledge of human preferences for the purposes of targeted marketing. AP reported that in 2024, the non-profit computer software corporation Mozilla Foundation analysed 11 romantic chatbot apps and found that 'almost every app sells user data, shares it for things like targeted advertising or doesn't provide adequate information about it in their privacy policy.' Humans are also turning to chatbots for advice on how to make themselves more attractive. I was fascinated by a Washington Post piece published in the Free Press May 31 that explored how ChatGPT — an AI bot — is being sought out as a beauty oracle. As Tatum Hunter reported, 'people are uploading their own photos, asking it for unsparing assessments of their looks and sharing the results on social media. Many also ask the bot to formulate a plan for them to 'glow up,' or improve their appearance. Users say the bot, in turn, has recommended specific products from hair dye to Botox. Some people say they have spent thousands of dollars following the AI's suggestions.' What users don't always realize is that AI chatbots are skewed by the input they've received — and that can include biases human trainers bring to the table as well as information scraped from a variety of online sources, including subjective and misogynistic beliefs about what constitutes human beauty. AI chatbots can also be programmed to push the beauty products and treatments that underpin their advice. Yet some humans don't seem to mind being manipulated — whether subtly or overtly — towards merchandise, salon services or Botox injections. It seems disturbing to me that we are constantly being groomed — sometimes literally — by technology, and as a result of that, are relying less on the human relationships and connections that once sustained us. Whether we're scrolling through social media, shopping online, looking for romantic relationships or trying to parse political messaging, more and more we have to question whether what we are seeing and hearing is actually true, actually real. Tuesdays A weekly look at politics close to home and around the world. We need to start demanding more transparency and accountability from AI-powered technology, as well as stringent government oversight. Otherwise, it will truly be the machines who are training us. Pam Frampton lives in St. John's. Email pamelajframpton@ X: @Pam_Frampton Bluesky: @ Pam Frampton Pam Frampton is a columnist for the Free Press. She has worked in print media since 1990 and has been offering up her opinions for more than 20 years. Read more about Pam. Pam's columns are built on facts, but offer her personal views through arguments and analysis. Every column Pam produces is reviewed by an editing team before it is posted online or published in print — part of the Free Press's tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism. Read more about Free Press's history and mandate, and learn how our newsroom operates. Our newsroom depends on a growing audience of readers to power our journalism. If you are not a paid reader, please consider becoming a subscriber. Our newsroom depends on its audience of readers to power our journalism. Thank you for your support.
The Star
03-06-2025
- Science
- The Star
AI pioneer launches research group to help build safer agents
Bengio will lead a team of more than 15 researchers who are initially working to build a new technical solution called Scientist AI that's meant to act as a guardrail for AI agents. — Photo by Igor Omilaev on Unsplash Yoshua Bengio, an artificial intelligence pioneer, is creating a new nonprofit research organisation to promote an alternative approach to developing cutting-edge AI systems, with the aim of mitigating the technology's potential risks. The nonprofit, called LawZero, is set to launch June 3 with US$30mil (RM127.45mil) in backing from one of former Google chief executive officer Eric Schmidt's philanthropic organisations and Skype co-founder Jaan Tallinn, among others. Bengio will lead a team of more than 15 researchers who are initially working to build a new technical solution called Scientist AI that's meant to act as a guardrail for AI agents. OpenAI, Anthropic and other AI companies have increasingly focused on developing agents that can field more complex tasks on a user's behalf, with little human involvement. By contrast, Bengio said LawZero is designing a system that will act like "a selfless, idealised scientist' that learns to understand the world rather than act in it. The goal is for this model to be used in tandem with leading AI agents and provide oversight of these systems, minimising potential harms. Bengio, a professor of computer science at the Université de Montréal, is considered one of the "godfathers' of AI, along with fellow academics Geoff Hinton and Yann LeCun. In recent years, Bengio, Hinton and others have raised concerns about whether AI is progressing so rapidly that it might one day become impossible for humans to fully control. While AI has become more adept at helpful tasks like research and coding, some systems have also demonstrated concerning capabilities, including deception, self-preservation and making up false information. Anthropic recently said that during prerelease safety testing, its latest AI model tried to blackmail an engineer in order to avoid being replaced by another system. "We don't know how to design these very powerful AIs so that they will just follow our instructions,' Bengio said. "If we don't figure it out in time – which could be a matter of years – we will be taking terrible risks.' (LawZero is a nod to science fiction writer Isaac Asimov's Zeroth Law for robotics, which places the protection of humanity as a whole above all else.) Bengio said the most capable AI agents include a piece of code called a monitor that's intended to act as a guardrail. However, this monitor is designed in a similar way to the underlying system, which can make it an inadequate check on the AI's behaviour, Bengio said. "You don't give the keys to the prison to a criminal,' he said. "We want to put a trustworthy AI in charge of checking it.' Bengio said he has held discussions with OpenAI, Google and Anthropic about his project, as well as with political leaders. Bengio thinks that different actors can agree on the need to build AI safely – even as many in Washington and Silicon Valley appear more focused on the AI arms race with China. "Nobody wants to create a monster,' he said. – Bloomberg
