As AI models advance, companies are showing growing interest in autonomous AI agents that can carry out tasks without people. Yet complaints persist that AI-driven automation is still slow, even in Silicon Valley, highlighting a gap between expectations and on-the-ground experience. Some argue today’s large language models are built to assist humans rather than automate work, and that pursuing both goals can produce uneven performance. Surveys cited in reports show time saved by AI is often spent fixing or checking AI outputs.

Chinese AI company Z.ai said first-half revenue rose 400 percent from a year earlier to 953.89 million yuan, driven by cloud-based deployment and API business. The company posted a smaller overall loss of 2.07 billion yuan, while adjusted net loss widened to 1.96 billion yuan and R&D spending rose to 2.13 billion yuan. Cloud deployment revenue surged and its share of total revenue jumped, but gross margin fell as computing and inference costs weighed on profitability.