Everything you need to know about AI agents | Swami Sivasubramanian
TED Talks Daily
TED
4.1 • 11.9K Ratings
🗓️ 4 November 2025
⏱️ 20 minutes
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Summary
What if you had an AI-powered assistant — that took initiative on its own? Technology leader Swami Sivasubramanian believes AI agents are the future of work, capable of sparking new levels of productivity and creativity. Demystifying the workings of autonomous software systems, he explains what they are (and aren’t) and advocates for a world in which AI handles the boring stuff, so you can focus on what matters.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | You're listening to TED Talks Daily, where we bring you new ideas to spark your curiosity every day. |
| 0:12.2 | I'm your host, Elise Hew. |
| 0:14.1 | What happens when software can take initiative all on its own? |
| 0:19.6 | Tech leader Swami Sivasaubramanian demystifies AI agents, explaining what they are, what they |
| 0:27.1 | aren't, and how they're different from the chat bots many of us use today. |
| 0:35.0 | What I love about technology is that it can help us do things that we could have never imagined. |
| 0:42.8 | For instance, I grew up in a rural part of India. |
| 0:46.7 | I didn't grow up in the city. |
| 0:48.4 | I didn't come from an affluent family. |
| 0:51.3 | In fact, we didn't have a computer when I was growing up. My middle school and high school |
| 0:57.3 | had one computer that the entire school shed. I got access to 10 minutes a week, maybe 20 minutes |
| 1:06.0 | max for me to actually use a computer. That means I got to make every second count |
| 1:13.6 | and every second was precious |
| 1:16.6 | because I wanted to learn how to program. |
| 1:20.6 | It's only 10 minutes to go. |
| 1:22.6 | It wasn't an obvious choice or an easy one. |
| 1:26.6 | I didn't have all day to try out my code. In fact, I had to It wasn't an obvious choice or an easy one. |
| 1:27.5 | I didn't have all day to try out my code. |
| 1:30.6 | In fact, I had to be a human compiler to detect these syntax errors ahead of time. |
| 1:37.3 | I fell in love with this problem solving that came with this and went on to actually study |
| 1:43.8 | in the top college in my state college of |
| 1:46.8 | engineering Gindi and was the first generation in my family to go to college. |
... |
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