Small language models are the future of agentic AI

A few weeks ago, I processed a product refund with Amazon via agent. It was simple, straightforward, and surprisingly obvious that it was backed by a language model based on how it responded to my frustration about it asking tons of questions. But in the end, it processed my refund without ever connecting me with a human being.

I don't know whether Amazon relies on LLMs or SLMs for this and for similar interactions, but it makes tons of financial sense to use SLMs for narrowly scoped agents. In use cases like customer service, the intelligence behind LLMs is all wasted on the task the agents are trained for.

Wouldn't surprise me if down the road we start suggesting role-specific SLMs rather than general LLMs as both an ethics- and security-risk mitigation too.

Air Canada famously lost a court case recently (though the actual interaction happened in 2022) where their chat bot promised a discount that they didn't actually offer. They tried to argue that the chatbot was a "separate legal entity that is responsible for its own actions"!! It still took that person a court case and countless hours to get the discount so it's hardly a victory really.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/travel/article/20240222-air-canada-cha...

This is why law in it's current form is wrong in every country and jurisdiction.

We need "cumulative cases" that work like this: you submit your complaints to existing cumulative cases or open a new one, these are vetted by prosecutors.

They accumulate evidence over time and once it is a respectable sum, a court case is opened (paid by the corporation) everyone receives what they are owed if/when the case is won. If the court case loses, is appealed, and loses again, that cumulative case is banned.

Cumulative cases would have greater reprocussions to large corporate entities than "single person takes to court for several months to fight for a $40 discount".

And the people who complain rightfully eventually get a nice surprise in their bank accounts.

Do class action lawsuits match what you envision?