Today at 4:00 a.m. <br>by <a href="https://www.newstribune.com/staff/missouri-news-network">Missouri News Network</a> , Jacob Tukker<br><story></story><br>As artificial intelligence technologies continue to develop, many Missouri industries are projected to adopt new systems in 2025 intended to increase output and streamline optimization.<br>Global AI deals and funding have been rising, according to market research firm CB Insights. More than $16 billion was invested into artificial intelligence in the third quarter of 2024, up about 33 percent from a year earlier. The 566 AI deals in the quarter represented a 10 percent increase from 2023.<br>In Missouri, 6 percent of businesses this year reported using AI, almost twice as many as a year ago, according to a May survey by University of Missouri Extension. That percentage was expected to rise above 8 percent by year's end. The number of job postings in the state seeking AI skills also approximately doubled this year to 1.5 percent, according to the same survey.<br>Chris Kovac, co-founder of the Kansas City AI Club and founder of automated marketing firm Kovac.ai, said he felt Missouri companies experienced a bit of an AI "winter" in 2024. Some technologies that were hyped up in 2023 were not as easy to implement as expected, including generative AI tools. Companies that did implement more automated systems did not always see their anticipated results, either.<br>However, Kovac expects to see a shift early in 2025.<br>"Winter is over, and spring is here," he said. "We're seeing more investment in technologies with AI, we're seeing more internal testing."<br>What kind of AI technology do experts predict for 2025? Enter the AI agent, which has been dubbed the "third wave" of artificial intelligence.<br><strong>What is an AI agent?</strong><br>Most people have used or at least heard about generative AI, which takes an input and generates a response in the form of image, video or text. ChatGPT, OpenAI's generative AI chatbot, is just one example.<br>AI agents are a little different. Instead of being reactive, like generative AI, they are proactive. Agents can do a job without much, if any, human intervention. In other words, the new technology can essentially mimic what an actual human would do in their role.<br>Dong Xu, a University of Missouri professor who conducts AI-assisted research, said AI agents are among the primary tools companies in Missouri should invest in to help aid workflows and efficiency in 2025.<br>"You can replace a lot of human activities," Xu said. "So that means you need fewer people to do the same amount of work, and possibly even more, with more consistency."<br>AI agents appear in a variety of forms. In fact, you may be using one already. Examples can include complex models, like financial trading algorithms and lead development systems for sales teams, all the way to smart thermostats that adapt to maintain the right temperature. Whatever form they take, these agents are expected to appear in many more Missouri businesses next year.<br>"I believe that most of us will have an AI agent by the end of 2025 either helping with a personal task or as an executive assistant or actually managing aspects within the business," Kovac said. "So it is going to be a big deal."<br>Once these new technologies hit the market, Xu said, there is no going back.<br>"This kind of AI application is very similar to, let's say, adaptation of the internet or adaptation of earlier IT technologies," Xu said. "It's irreversible."<br><strong>Down on the farm</strong><br>One Missouri industry that could see significant benefits from AI agents in 2025 is agriculture. Take soybeans, the state's most valuable crop, for example.<br>Jianfeng Zhou, a research director at the University of Missouri's Digital Agriculture Research and Extension Center, is working to develop AI systems that can help soybean breeders. Zhou's team aims to speed up plant breeding through a process called high-throughput phenotyping, which involves identifying key traits in plants to produce better cultivars that increase plant yield and quality.<br>Zhou uses agents like drones equipped with AI imaging technology in the sky and algorithms to interpret that data on the ground. He wants to reduce both the development timeline for new soybean cultivars, which he said can last about eight years, and the time spent each season analyzing each soybean genotype.<br>Just collecting data manually, analyzing these genotypes can require days or weeks each season.<br>"What we are trying to do is use drone sensors in a robotic artificial intelligence algorithm. We can evaluate those (plants) quickly," Zhou said. "You may spend two days, but we fly drones and just need two hours to complete this evaluation and get the score they need."<br>These drones are equipped with special cameras that can take pictures of the plants in various ways that can be analyzed by AI systems. These systems take into account the cultivar's health, size, color and more to predict its yield. They can find patterns that humans may not notice, similar to technology used in phones with face recognition security.<br>"It can extract what we call the 'hidden information,'" Zhou said. "For example, the face recognition algorithm is looking for very detailed information that we may not realize. So in the same way, when there is an image that includes the plant, there's a lot of patterns we may notice, but we cannot quantify. So the AI algorithm can quantify it."<br><strong>AI guardrails</strong><br>For as helpful as AI can be, it also presents risks that have been well-documented.<br>"We think of it as an AI arms race," Kovac said. "You have tools that are trying to protect us by keeping our data private, and we have other tools that are looking to maybe exploit vulnerabilities."<br>Kovac said businesses must develop and document AI usage guidelines to mitigate unethical use. Until that happens, he expects to see more issues with cybersecurity and fraud.<br>"As the dust settles, I think there will be more tools and safeguards to prevent deep fakes and to help us use AI ethically," Kovac said. "But right now, it's somewhat of a Wild West."<br><em>The work of the Missouri News Network is written by Missouri School of Journalism students and editors for publication by Missouri Press Association member newspapers.</em><br><br><a href="#" onclick="event.preventDefault();Osano.cm.showDrawer('osano-cm-dom-info-dialog-open')">Privacy Preferences</a><br>Copyright © 2024, News Tribune Publishing<br>All rights reserved.<br>This document may not be reprinted without the express written permission of News Tribune Publishing<br>Material from the Associated Press is Copyright © 2024, Associated Press and may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Associated Press text, photo, graphic, audio and/or video material shall not be published, broadcast, rewritten for broadcast or publication or redistributed directly or indirectly in any medium. Neither these AP materials nor any portion thereof may be stored in a computer except for personal and noncommercial use. 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