AI Agents and You

The AI newsletter for the rest of us!

February 17, 2025

Have you been hearing a lot about AI agents lately? They seem to be everywhere in the conversation. When we think about AI agents, complex mechanisms like self-driving cars come to mind, but agents are becoming both more mainstream and more personalized. Learn more about these “personal assistants” in this week's Spotlight AI. If you’re wondering how you might leverage them for your own use, check out the agent marketplaces in this week’s AI Tools.

The How To AI section has some free course suggestions to help you become more proficient with AI; and of course, have fun perusing this week's AI News with items from the art world, politics, medical developments, and more.

THANK YOU for letting The AI Intelligence be part of your AI journey! Let us know what you’d like to hear or learn more about in the survey below, and we’ll be sure to add those topics for you.

Here’s to your discovery!

  • AI Spotlight: AI Agents: Your Digital Assistants on Steroids

  • AI Toolbox: Taylor a course for anything you want to learn, AI agent marketplace, productivity tools

  • Is it Real or is it AI?? Apply your AI sleuthing skills!

  • How To AI: Free online AI courses, organizing your email,

  • AI News: Dali lives, AI for Government, AI Ray-Bans, Paris AI Conference, Google age detection, and more…

  • Next Issue: ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity, Gemini,,…what do they do and what’s the difference between them?

AI Agents: Your Digital Assistants on Steroids

Imagine having a personal assistant who not only listens to you but also anticipates your needs, organizes your schedule, manages tasks, and even makes decisions on your behalf. Sounds futuristic? Well, that future is already here — welcome to the world of AI agents!

Think of AI agents as your personal digital assistants on steroids - they're smart software that understands what you want and takes action to help you achieve it. Unlike traditional AI chatbots that simply respond to questions, these agents can work on multiple tasks simultaneously, learn your preferences over time, make decisions based on them, and interact with various digital systems to get things done for you. Continue reading…

What Is Agentic AI? White-Collar Robots Are Here, For Better or Worse

Forget writing an essay or generating a picture—the latest AI products from Microsoft, OpenAI, and others aim to autonomously perform daily tasks and job functions for you.

AI Agents Will Be Manipulation Engines

Surrendering to algorithmic agents risks putting us under their influence.

AI Agents Are Coming For Your Industry: Here's Who's First In Line

From tech and finance to retail and logistics, discover which sectors are ready to embrace AI agents that work 24/7 without breaks, and learn the critical factors.

Teach Anything AI Tutor

This platform instantly creates lessons about any topic. You can set different languages and different skill levels for your responses.

Agent Marketplaces

…find (or build) AI agents to fit your needs at these platforms. 

Taskade - “Build your AI Taskforce”

You.com Agents - “Create and explore custom AI agents with tailored instructions and diverse skills.”

Agent.ai - “Marketplace and professional network for AI agents and the people who love them.”

I write about AI for a living — here's my 7 favorite free AI tools to try now

AI tools go beyond chatting and reasoning to help with a variety of tasks from headshots to animation, transcription, to voiceovers and more. Plus, they are free.

Which of these images is real and which is AI? Find out if you guessed correctly at the bottom of the newsletter.

A

B

37 of the best AI courses you can take online for free

Take your pick from this massive selection of free online courses.

How to use Apple Intelligence to sort your emails

Spend less time in your inbox, with the help of AI. Apple Intelligence can sort your incoming emails for you.

OpenAI launches ChatGPT for government agencies

OpenAI just launched "ChatGPT Gov," a specialized version of its AI assistant designed specifically for US government agencies.

Dalí Lives (via Artificial Intelligence)

Cutting-edge AI gives visitors to the Dali Museum an opportunity to learn about Dalí’s life from the artist himself (be sure to scroll down and watch the video!).

Meta’s AI-Powered Ray-Bans Are Life-Enhancing for the Blind

Tech giant makes smart specs for general public; visually impaired owners use them for everyday tasks, though critics cite safety concerns

I met the ‘godfathers of AI’ in Paris – here’s what they told me to really worry about

Experts are split between concerns about future threats and present dangers.

First glimpse inside burnt scroll after 2,000 years

A badly burnt scroll from the Roman town of Herculaneum has been digitally "unwrapped", providing the first look inside for 2,000 years.

I Dated Multiple AI Partners at Once. It Got Real Weird

Do people really fall in love with AI? I dated bots from four different companies for a week—and found out it was easier than I thought.

Google using AI to determine the age of kids is useful but terrifying

Google is using AI to determine the age of kids and prevent them from accessing restricted content, but the tech is also kind of scary.

Christie's AI art auction inspires protests – and more art

The upcoming Augmented Intelligence sale represents the first time a major auction house is focusing entirely on works created using machine learning. Artists have mixed feelings about it.

Answer to Is it Real or is it Fake

Image A was created with AI. Did you guess right?

Real image by Yulia Rozanova, Pexels.com, AI image created with Midjourney