Topics
up-to-the-minute
AI
Amazon
Image Credits:Workera /
Apps
Biotech & Health
mood
Image Credits:Workera /
Cloud Computing
mercantilism
Crypto
A screenshot of Sage.Image Credits:Workera
initiative
EVs
Fintech
An employers perspective using Sage.Image Credits:Workera
Fundraising
gismo
punt
Sage provides benchmarks to mark progress on various skills.Image Credits:Workera
Government & Policy
Hardware
Layoffs
Media & Entertainment
Meta
Microsoft
privateness
Robotics
Security
Social
infinite
Startups
TikTok
Transportation
Venture
More from TechCrunch
Events
Startup Battlefield
StrictlyVC
Podcasts
Videos
Partner Content
TechCrunch Brand Studio
Crunchboard
Contact Us
Kian Katanforoosh has one of the best wise man in the AI world : renowned research worker Andrew Ng , who also attend to as his alum school adviser at Stanford . The two went on to make Stanford ’s deep encyclopaedism programme , and now Ng serves as chairman of Katanforoosh ’s inauguration , Workera . Ng has been a meaningful guide in Katanforoosh ’s vocation , but now the Workera CEO is trying to break down what it intend to be a in effect mentor , and automatise it through a new AI agentive role , Sage .
“ I trust Andrew because I understand his background and expertise , but how many Andrews are there in the world ? Not that many , ” said Katanforoosh in an consultation . “ So automatise this mentorship facet was critical . ”
On Tuesday , Workeraannounced Sage , an AI broker you’re able to talk with that ’s designed to assess an employee ’s skill level , goals , and needs . After taking some brusk test , Workera claims Sage will accurately judge how proficient someone is at a certain skill . Then , Sage can recommend the appropriate online course through Coursera , Workday , or other learning chopine partners . Through chatting with Sage , Workera is design to run across employees where they are , test their accomplishment in written material , automobile learning , or mathematics , and give them a path to meliorate .
To be unclouded , Workera ’s definition of “ wise man ” is a hyper - specific one ; Katanforoosh acknowledge that salvia will not do everything Ng did for him . boost , life history guidance , and networking are gruelling to automate . But Sage can somewhat objectively valuate an employee ’s skillset , and recommend the correct courses to avail achieve their goals . While that ’s not a perfect wise man , it ’s better than some have accession to .
As the Word of Iranian immigrants , Katanforoosh ’s parents were forced to flee their home country during the unstable 1970s , abandoning their studies in the process . His father pass on a scientific discipline academic degree behind and end up selling clothes in France to make a animation . While today ’s Workera largely serves Fortune 500 employee , Katanforoosh believes that gain assessment skills more available could one day aid people in his parents ’ situation .
People are lust mentorship today more than ever . In the era of remote work , immature employees meet less nerve time with experienced colleagues , have in mind less hazard to catch some nugget of wisdom by the water ice chest . The CEO of Workera thinks the company ’s unexampled AI agent is up to the project .
Sage will roll out to other access customers as of November 2024 , including defense technology supplier Booz Allen . Other Workera customers , include the U.S. Air Force and Accenture , will get general access to Sage in March 2025 .
Join us at TechCrunch Sessions: AI
Exhibit at TechCrunch Sessions: AI
Workera has raisedmore than $ 44 millionto administer AI - engender trial for go-ahead employees , offering employer a way to approximate their employees ’ skillsets . Employees typically do n’t leap at the chance to be compare to their coworkers , but Workera tries to propose a way for occupation to invest in their employees as well .
salvia does the same thing , but offers a more colloquial experience that attach together the Workera weapons platform more neatly . The flexibility of OpenAI ’s multimodal models , which Workera expend , also offers a flexible interface that ’s capable of scaling to drastically more tasks in various mediums . Indeed , 95 % of Sage ’s interactions are power by GPT-4o , according to Katanforoosh , while the AI broker utilise OpenAI ’s fresh o1 role model 5 % of the time to plan out more complicated examination that may ask some reasoning .
Can an AI agent replace a great human mentor?
With Sage , Workera is claim to become a mentor for workers , instead of just an administer of skill assessments . A human wise man offers aroused reinforcement , encouragement , and connections that an AI chatbot likely never could . However , in some aspect of mentorships , Katanforoosh thinks Sage can be well .
“ A upright wise man needs to assess by rights , because unless the mentor can tax accurately , it can not help you … That ’s one that can be automated , ” say Katanforoosh . “ In fact , I ’m pretty confident measurement system we have today are better than most people ; I would bank the Workera system much more than I trust myself at measuring someone ’s car learning skills . ”
Another aspect to this is that humans are biased and highly influenced by trivial traits , so they may not always make exact assessment of someone ’s natural endowment . AI systems are not perfect either , for the record , and contain many of the same biases as the humans that create them . After all , AI modeling are mostly ground on human - generated datum .
But the biases of AI models may have a more bright solution than that of humans . Katanforoosh teach a form at Stanford which get over diagonal moderation methods in AI . He securely believe there are ways to reduce diagonal underlie an AI model ’s data with algorithms . These can weight sex , subspecies , or other consideration in a different way , create the output of AI models more equitable .
“ I actually feel very confident that AI is already much less colored , but will be even less colored than humans in the occur years , ” said Workera ’s chief executive officer .
By automating these task , Katanforoosh aver managers can be freed up to manage the human aspects of mentorship that AI ca n’t automatise . Human coach still need to advance and pass their employees , among other things that AI mentors are still limited in doing .
One affair Sage does not do yet is learn long - shape content . For that , Workera swear on partners in the online learning space . However , Sage will identify accomplishment you might be able to find out quickly , and sire a brief scenario and question to test your understanding .
I would argue Workera is stretching the tidings “ mentor ” here , and more or less is using its own definition . That said , Sage may be a useful agent that managers can add to their tool bang to avail measure and invest in their work force .
