What is proactive AI?

You put in a prompt, get an answer, and nothing happens until you input another. That’s how most AI assistants have worked, but proactive AI changes that. Proactive AI doesn’t need a prompt to act. It’ll check you in for a flight or submit an application on your behalf, making these decisions based on context it has accumulated over time. With proactive AI assistants like Meta’s Muse and Instinct going viral, the stuff of sci-fi suddenly seems close to reality. But just like any good sci-fi story, this technology is a double-edged sword. Let’s explore how proactive AI works and what you give up for the convenience it provides. To find out more about what’s at stake, check out our full guide on AI and privacy — or try out our AI paper trail tool to see exactly what mainstream AI chatbots may have collected about you through your conversations. Proactive AI agents run on the same large language models as the AI chatbots we’re used to. What…