The Irony of AI: Why Less Knowledge Leads to Greater Adoption, Atera's Autopilot & Agentic AI

[00:00:02] It's Tuesday, February 4th, 2025, and I'm Dave Sobel. Four things to know today. The Irony, the less you know about AI, the more you love it. AI models are coming fast, but should we even be keeping score anymore? AI that works while you sleep, Atera and Enable take IT automation to the next level, and Intel rethinks chips, Adobe rethinks contracts, and Microsoft rethinks search. This is the Business of Tech.

[00:00:31] I'm going to cover a bunch of AI news today. There's some security stuff I want to cover in depth tomorrow. Let's talk a bit of strategy before I hit some product announcements and some agentic announcements of note for managed service providers. A recent study published in the Journal of Marketing reveals that individuals with less knowledge about artificial intelligence are more likely to embrace it in their daily lives.

[00:00:54] This phenomenon, termed the lower literacy higher receptivity link, suggests that people from nations with lower average AI literacy are generally more receptive to adapting AI technologies than those from countries with higher literacy. For example, an analysis of data from market research companies Ipsos, which surveyed 27 countries, supported the finding.

[00:01:18] Additionally, a survey of undergraduate students in the U.S. indicated that those with limited understanding of AI were more inclined to use it for academic tasks. Interestingly, even though less knowledgeable individuals may view AI as less capable or ethical, their sense of wonder about the technology appears to drive their openness to using it. The researchers emphasized the need for a careful balance between improving AI literacy and maintaining public enthusiasm for AI,

[00:01:46] as efforts to boost understanding may inadvertently reduce the perceived magic that encourages adoption. Why do we care? The study confirms what many in the industry have observed. Those who know less about AI tend to embrace it more readily, either because they don't see the risks or because they're more fascinated by the technology. AI hype drives adoption, but that same hype can lead to unrealistic expectation. Users may assume AI is more capable than it is, leading to frustration when it fails.

[00:02:17] Notably, education is a double-edged sword. Teaching users more about AI may actually reduce adoption rates as they become more skeptical. Today's episode is supported by Huntress. You want to focus on your clients and are always looking for ways to get more time. Use Huntress' fully managed cybersecurity platform to fight off cyber threats. Huntress is more than cybersecurity software for endpoints and identities.

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[00:03:13] Visit Huntress.com slash MSP Radio to find out more. There's a flurry of AI model releases, all right after DeepSeek make their splash last week. OpenAI announced the release of its new artificial intelligence model called O3 Mini for free. The O3 Mini model is reported to match its predecessor in areas like mathematics and science, but operates at a lower cost and delivers faster responses.

[00:03:40] Users on OpenAI's Pro package will receive unlimited access, while those on the Plus plan will experience increased limits compared to free users. Google quietly launched its next-generation flagship AI model, Gemini 2.0 Pro Experimental, through a change log for its Gemini chatbot app. Google claims it offers better factual accuracy and enhanced performance for coding and mathematics tasks.

[00:04:06] However, the model is still in early preview, meaning it may exhibit unexpected behaviors and errors. Microsoft announced that its reasoning model, Think Deeper, developed by OpenAI, will now be available for free to all users of its Copilot software. This announcement comes just two weeks after Microsoft increased the cost of Copilot by $3 per month. The new model, which is designed to help produce more accurate outputs by mimicking human reasoning through intermediary steps,

[00:04:35] aims to reduce errors and improve overall quality. The announcement has sparked some skepticism, as some users have reported a significant increase in their monthly subscription fees, raising questions about the true meaning of free in this context. Mistral AI has launched its Small3 model, which the company claims is the most efficient in its category and optimized for quick responses. With 24 billion parameters, Small3 is an open-source model designed for local use,

[00:05:03] capable of achieving over 81% accuracy on the MMLU benchmark test. The model has been tested with more than 1,000 coding and general prompts by human evaluators, who preferred Small3 over competitors like Gemma 2 and Quen 2.5. Mistral recommends this model for applications such as customer-facing virtual assistance and fraud detection in financial services, stating that it can be fine-tuned to create highly accurate subject matter experts.

[00:05:32] The Small3 model is available for use in devices like a MacBook with a minimum of 32 gigabytes of RAM. Mistral plans to release more models with enhanced reasoning capabilities in the near future. And I wanted to observe that DeepSeq wasn't done. DeepSeq launched a new family of multimodal AI models named Janus Pro, which claimed to outperform OpenAI's DALI 3. The models range in size from 1 billion to 7 billion parameters, with larger models generally demonstrating better problem-solving capabilities.

[00:06:02] Janus Pro operates under an MIT license, allowing for unrestricted commercial use. Notably, the largest model, Janus Pro 7B, has surpassed DALI 3 in performance on two benchmarks, Janival and DPGBench. Why do we care? The models may, and should, move quickly to commoditization and move the value to the application layer. This is continued good news to providers. At some point, tracking models will become entirely irrelevant.

[00:06:31] There's value now, particularly to watch for capabilities early that can appear in products and can be used in services. So, there's a lot of hype around agentic AI. A recent report from UiPath reveals that 90% of U.S. IT executives believe their business processes could benefit from agentic artificial intelligence, with 77% ready to invest in it this year.

[00:06:56] The report, which surveyed over 250 IT executives from companies generating more than $1 billion in revenue, also found that 37% are already using agentic AI. However, concerns remain with 56% of respondents citing IT security as a primary worry. So, I noted when Rich Freeman at Channelholic reported on his discussion with the CEO of Atera. He revealed that their Autopilot feature, designed to autonomously handle end-user service requests, is already operational.

[00:07:26] Atera began this project in June 2022, leveraging GPT-3 technology, and has confirmed that Autopilot can interact with user applications, execute plans, and learn from past experiences. The system can solve problems without technician intervention, effectively acting as a digital workforce available 24 hours a day. Moreover, it has been reported that managed service providers using Autopilot are charging extra for its capabilities.

[00:07:52] Peckleman emphasized that this advancement could lead to significant financial benefits for clients by reducing wait times for support. Autopilot is currently being tested by several managed service providers, with full-scale commercial production expected within the next two months. An agentic? Well, maybe not. Enable launched an AI-powered developer portal aimed at accelerating API integrations with its IT management and cybersecurity platform.

[00:08:18] This new portal automates access to APIs and customer script generation, providing faster business value for IT and security services. Key features include interactive documentation, AI search capabilities, and dynamic code previews supporting over 20 programming languages. The portal is designed to help enable partners build custom integrations, automate repetitive tasks, and enhance service delivery. Why do we care? Disclosure, I'm an enabled shareholder.

[00:08:47] Now, what qualifies as agentic AI? There is no clear standard. If companies are labeling basic workflow automation as agentic, the real deployment numbers may be much lower. That said, if Autopilot can truly handle IT service requests without human intervention, that's a major shift in IT support models. Providers charging extra for Autopilot's capabilities suggests early signs of monetization,

[00:09:12] which is important for IT providers looking at AI as a revenue generator rather than just a cost saver. The fact that Atera started the project in June of 2022 using older GPT-3 isn't also notable. This isn't a rushed GPT-4 deployment. It's been in the works for a while. That could mean a more refined, well-tested system rather than a knee-jerk AI add-on. Finally, I had a few product announcements I believe are impactful.

[00:09:40] Adobe enhanced its Acrobat AI Assistant with new features designed to help users understand contracts more effectively. The update allows the software's chatbot to identify contracts in files and scan documents, summarizing complex language into simpler terms. This feature is offered as a monthly add-on for $5 and is currently available only in English. The company aims to save users time by making it easier to find critical information in lengthy contracts,

[00:10:08] which often contain important dates and policies that can be overlooked. Microsoft enhanced its AI-powered Windows search for users with Copilot Plus PCs. The latest Insider build, released on February 3rd, enables users to search for OneDrive photos using natural language prompts directly in File Explorer. This improvement allows for seamless integration of local and cloud-stored photos in search results, including exact matches for keywords within cloud files.

[00:10:36] While currently limited to File Explorer, plans are in place to extend this capability to the taskbar's search box in future updates. And Intel announced that it will not bring its Falcon Shores artificial intelligence chip to market, shifting its focus instead to a system-level solution called Jaguar Shores. The decision comes as Intel attempts to recover from disappointing product launches and significant financial losses, while competitors such as Advanced Micro Devices and NVIDIA continue to gain market share.

[00:11:06] Why do we care? Intel's struggles continue. Intel canceling Falcon Shores is another indicator of its ongoing struggle to compete in the AI accelerator space. The shift to a system-level approach suggests Intel is moving away from standalone AI chips towards integrated solutions. Considering the plummeting need for chips here, this might help them. Adobe is capitalizing on a clear use case for AI, simplifying legal and contract documents.

[00:11:35] It's a natural fit for Acrobat, which dominates the PDF space in legal, financial, and enterprise settings. The ability to extract key information from complex contracts could be a major productivity booster. And while never removing the need for legal review, it's distinctly a workflow enhancer. Are you ready to get your brand in front of the tech leaders shaping the future of managed services? Here at The Business of Tech, we offer flexible sponsorship opportunities to meet your needs,

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