The next AI earthquake and the wave of "one-person startups"

(Dan Tri) - It's not science fiction. With just a laptop, an individual can run an entire company: from marketing, recruiting to customer care... all thanks to AI.

The relentless race between technology giants has brought artificial intelligence (AI) into everyday life at an unprecedented speed.

2024 sees the explosion of generative AI - technology that can "draw pictures, write music, compose text" in seconds.

But that's not the end. Moving into 2025, a new trend will emerge: AI Agents - "virtual assistants" that not only support but also replace humans in decision making.

Earlier this year, Open AI CEO Sam Altman said: "We believe that by 2025 we could see the first AI agents entering the workforce and dramatically changing company productivity."

His belief partly shows the prospect of bold development trends of AI in the near future with the focus of resources on AI Agent.

The prospect of "virtual colleagues" replacing humans in complex tasks is no longer in the distant future.

The rise of AI Agents raises a big question: When one person can run a business thanks to AI, where will other workers go? What should Vietnamese people do to not be left behind?

Dan Tri reporter had a conversation with Master Nguyen Gia Hy - AI lecturer at Swinburne University (Australia), AI researcher at Deakin University, and founder of SkillPixel, to better understand the new wave of AI that is shaking up the global labor market.

Can you explain in the simplest way: What is "AI Agent"? Why is this technology predicted to be the mainstream trend of 2025?

- To clarify the term "AI Agent", we will contrast it with traditional AI systems.

The AI ​​we know handles individual and independent tasks. For example, facial recognition systems or voice recognition systems. These are general AI tools that focus on a specific task.

As for AI Agent, also known as AI agent, it is considered as a real "employee", can do a larger task that requires high requirements in thinking, interaction with other AIs, and automation in decision making.

For example, a self-driving car, in addition to recognizing images of other cars, must be able to decide which direction to go and how to react to green or red lights.

To do that, it must be able to receive and process information, then make decisions automatically with minimal human intervention. That is a typical example of an AI Agent.

Sounds like... a real human, but a machine version?

- That's right. If AI only helps you write articles or create images, AI Agent can operate an entire workflow. In the future, businesses can let AI Agents handle all marketing, finance, and recruitment without the need for a cumbersome human resource team.

To clarify the capabilities of AI Agent , can you share some typical applications of AI Agent?

- Startups with only one manager will be a new trend from the AI ​​Agent wave. To do this, companies will operate AI Agents in almost all stages from marketing, financial management, sales, recruitment and other jobs.

All the work is run by AI Agents integrated into the system. And those Agents also have the ability to communicate and cooperate with each other to perform a larger task. They can coordinate to work as a team of employees without the need for humans to join the team.

That's a story for the future, but for now we don't need to look far as self-driving cars or virtual assistants are also typical examples of AI Agents. They have the ability to process information and make decisions freely without needing direct human intervention.

Under the development of AI, the labor market and employment are having many fluctuations. Since the beginning of the year, we have witnessed from small and medium-sized enterprises to the world's leading corporations have cut staff such as : Amazon, Microsoft, Meta, Workday.

So in the trend of traditional labor force gradually being replaced, what do you think workers need to prepare to adapt?

- This is a question that not only workers but also businesses and managers are struggling with. When AI can replace humans in many jobs, the only way to not be left behind is to proactively adapt. In my opinion, there are 3 important things that young people - and those who are working - need to pay attention to.

First, focus on skills that AI cannot replace: creative thinking, critical thinking, communication, collaboration, and people management. These are “human materials” that technology, no matter how advanced, will have difficulty reaching.

Second, we should learn to coordinate smoothly, "live with" AI instead of learning to oppose or eliminate it. We need to know how to coordinate effectively, learn a lot about AI to work and use it more effectively.

Courses on AI applications and professional certifications are also key to creating an advantage for yourself.

Finally, everyone needs to know how to build a personal brand in the digital environment, connect with many experts, and proactively seek cooperation opportunities so as not to be left behind.

For the young generation who will become the future workforce and be strongly influenced by the AI ​​wave, in addition to the AI ​​Agent trend that is being promoted, what advice do you have for them in the context of the reshaping labor market?

- The current reality is that almost every job has some intervention from AI. In society, in all professions, everyone uses AI commonly.

If you are a young generation but only approach studying and other work such as research in a traditional way, the gap between you and the rest will gradually widen.

That will create a situation where while the productivity of those who know how to apply AI properly increases up to 10 times, their output quality is 10 times higher thanks to the support of AI, your work efficiency cannot be equal to theirs, even though you have also put in a lot of effort and dedication.

The generation of students themselves will be the future workforce. Therefore, in the current context, you need to equip yourself with the mindset of "living with" AI, learning how to apply it effectively, and making the most of it.

Thus, after graduating and entering the labor market, you will have a competitive advantage and effective AI application methods in your work, thereby finding stable jobs and creating a position in the competitive workforce.

On the contrary, if you do not know how to apply AI and approach every job manually, it will be difficult to adapt to the working environment of the near future.

In short, not only students but everyone must constantly update their knowledge about AI, about innovations in this field as well as learn to think creatively to apply AI in many aspects of life.

As AI becomes more intelligent and able to automate many processes, its potential applications will certainly not only stop at supporting but also open up many new directions. In your opinion, what opportunities are being created from the strong development of this technology?

- Yes, when AI can take on many complex tasks, some doors will close but many new doors will also open for humans.

This technology is fueling the emergence of jobs and creative fields that we could hardly imagine before.

First of all, those who work in engineering will find new job positions such as: AI Engineer or Data Scientist . They are the ones who directly build, train and optimize AI models - the core element that helps intelligent systems operate effectively.

One emerging but hotly contested field is Prompt Engineering – designing commands for AI to understand and accurately execute a user's wishes.

For AI to work, it needs accurately labeled data, and this need has also created a new job position, that of Data Labeler (a person who labels data to train AI).

At the same time, as AI becomes increasingly involved in content creation, the issue of content ethics and control becomes essential.

Jobs that involve moderating AI-produced content that doesn't violate social norms, contain bias, or misinformation will be in greater demand than ever.

The good news is that the opportunities aren’t just limited to the tech industry. The AI ​​boom has brought a lot of potential to creative and service industries:

- Digital content creation: With AI, people can easily produce videos , images, and sounds without a large team. There are many Youtube and Tiktok channels that do not even have the channel owner's face or voice but still create quality and viral content (with high interaction).

Or with podcasts, just one idea and AI will support the rest, helping to shorten the creative process.

With such typical jobs, you can absolutely get those jobs on freelancer platforms.

A young person I know in Vietnam has created a significant income just by working as a freelancer. This young person has earned hundreds of millions each month by accepting jobs and applying AI effectively while working to create optimal results.

There are many prominent career trends in the context of AI development, the issue to consider is whether we are hard-working and creative enough to make money from AI or not.

In the context of the AI ​​era exploding with remarkable advances globally, Vietnam needs to continue to seize opportunities and affirm its position in this field.

In your opinion, with the opportunities brought by AI, what competitive advantages does Vietnamese human resources have compared to other countries in the world?

- I believe that the biggest advantage of Vietnamese people is human quality, especially thinking ability.

Recently, the paper announced that the AI ​​model AlphaGeometry2 solved gold medal-level geometry problems in the International Math Olympiad, marking a milestone that surprised the world.

What is special is that the research team that developed this model consists of 10 members, including 4 Vietnamese.

I also know many Vietnamese people who are currently holding high positions in AI at some large companies and corporations such as Google and Amazon. This has proven that the thinking, reasoning and capacity of Vietnamese people are very good.

So in the future, I hope that Vietnam will create breakthroughs and new innovations in the field of AI.

In addition, the advantage of cheap and dynamic labor will also be a bright spot of human resources in Vietnam.

Finally, I think that with our strengths in agriculture, we can also consider interdisciplinary research, effectively applying AI in this field and even if it develops, Vietnam can advise other countries on the application of AI in agriculture.

Thanks for the chat!

Content: Minh Nhat , Viet Anh

Photo: Thanh Dong

Design: Thuy Tien

March 14, 2025 - 04:35

Source: https://dantri.com.vn/cong-nghe/con-dia-chan-tiep-theo-cua-ai-va-lan-song-startup-mot-nguoi-20250312222003080.htm