Over the last few weeks, I asked 166 people:

What’s something you did not ask AI last week, because it can’t do it?

There were 4 groups of responses.

37% said “Reliability”. AI tries but fails often enough. Like:

  • Verify & return exact source of information.
  • Generate accurate images.
  • Completing PDF accessibility reliably according to the WCAG 2.2 standard.
  • Converting 2D interior design to 3D view as vision models are not good keeping things as per scale.
  • Create a user manual based on my codebase. I have asked this before and it has failed.

27% spoke about “Reach”. AI can’t access tools, data, or do something.

  • Book my tickets for a vacation.
  • Update my to do list.
  • Open my application at 5pm, after execution, Open GChat and Send Files…
  • Read … API documentation that is not openly published on the internet.
  • Run a Business Objects Report…

Interestingly, agents are steadily improving on both the reach (with more tools and permissions) and reliability (with deterministic verification and better models).

14% said “It can do everything”

  • I think it has all the answers
  • I have used AI for all possible tasks
  • Nothing in fact, but decide whether to take its answer or not later. Anyways try it to see what it says.

12% argued “Presence”. Things that need interpersonal or physical presence.

  • Attend my meetings.
  • Have a difficult conversation with a colleague.
  • Talk to stakeholders for requirement gathering.
  • Doctor’s appointment.
  • Play … with me.
  • Eating.

That’s in order of decreasing frequency - but also increasing correctness, I think.

  1. Reliability: model intelligence and agent reliability are consistently improving. I rarely worry about hallucinations.
  2. Reach: connectors are growing and agents can use cards to buy stuff. I expect reach is fading faster than we think.
  3. It can do everything: Well, it can probably replace the brain, like machines can replace the body, but maybe there’s more than that?
  4. Presence: This feels like one of those things which, almost by definition, seems hard to delegate.