Hello future-forward thinkers!

It’s been a while and meanwhile we've crossed another milestone in our journey where AI agents and automation intricacies redefine entrepreneurship. This week, let's dive into the fascinating world of voice agents led by the exciting innovations at Eleven Labs.

Meet the New Voice Agent from Eleven Labs

Imagine having a personal assistant who effortlessly DOES things for you as managing your calendar, search your 2nd brain for the info you just need, sends Emails or researchs with Perplexity. Eleven Labs has launched a new voice agent that can do just that, with seamless integration at its core. In default called “Eleven” and available at 11.ai, I've been personally testing this amazing tool and I'm thrilled to share that it's not just functional but quite intuitive.

My First Impressions

From the moment I began the onboarding process, I was impressed by how fluidly the system interacted, providing meaningful and context-relevant responses. However, it's not all rainbows. For example while managing calendar entries, the agent occasionally failed to get the task done, especially when I needed modifications after the initial entry. This is where the pursuit of finding just the right event becomes a bit challenging. It's still incredibly exciting, though, as these voice agents bring us closer to scenarios where screens and keyboards might soon take a backseat.

Testing Continues

This weekend, I'm planning to push this AI boundary further. While some app are integrated directly (as Notion, Slack, Perplexity) the magic really comes through when you connect Eleven via MCP to your personal tech stack. My experiments will include trial runs with different MCP configurations to explore how versatile Eleven can truly be as personal assistant. Stay tuned for updates on this!
By the way: I named my second agent “Twelve”. Very creative, right? It’s just because I can.

The Expanding Horizon of Voice Agents

Voice agents aren’t just taking over calendar entries; we’re seeing a burgeoning market ready to transform business operations by handling calls, simulating conversations, or being integrated into workflows via tools like VAPI or n8n. These interfaces, powered by Natural Language Processing (NLP) and Large Language Models (LLMs), advance traditional chatbot functions into interactive, nuance-rich systems that mirror human conversational patterns. You can bet that people can’t tell the difference anymore for some systems.

The Market Outlook

Voice AI agents are not just a trend, they're the future. Predictions indicate a robust market growth to exceed $47 billion by 2030, potentially integrating seamlessly into every corner of business applications over the next few years. As Speech-To-Text on iPhone and Mac really improved, personally I do a lot of my “writing” per speech now (yes, much of this newsletter was dictated). So the thought of AI leveraging the use of language is exhilarating. I've developed agents for myself that I can prompt with voice commands, but with powerful tools like 11.ai making accessibility super easy, the necessity for DIY solutions is diminishing.

Obviously there will be quite some opportunities across various industries:

• Retail and E-commerce: Beyond support chatbots, envision conversational shopping advisors, return management assistance, and voice-optimized search solutions.

• Healthcare: Patient care with appointment scheduling, medication reminders, and virtual check-ins.

• Smart Homes: Control over devices with voice ease.

• Education: Tailored and interactive learning experiences.

• Human Resources: Conduct screening calls, prepare simulations, and onboard with voice agents.

The Road Ahead (and a small “but”)

Future innovations in speech AI will focus on more human-like and intuitive interactions, enhanced natural language processing, emotion recognition, and multilingual capabilities. And yet, as technology gallops forward, ethical considerations like deception, bias, privacy, and accountability must be actively governed. Strong governance frameworks, transparent practices, and integrated human oversight are non-negotiable in these advancements.

I'm always inspired by these technological leaps and eagerly look forward to the creative horizon awaiting the integration of voice agents in everyday life. Will the mouse and keyboard soon be relics of the past? Only time will tell.

Let's embrace these changes together, and as always, I'm keen to hear your thoughts! What possibilities do you envision for your business with voice agents? Feel free to respond or share your experiences with voice agents. Let's find out together. 🌟

Until next time,
Fabian

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News & Reads on AI Agents & Co.

or “What those notorious AI Agents have been up to lately”

ElevenLabs has officially launched 11.ai (alpha) – a new voice-first AI assistant designed to demonstrate the capabilities of its Conversational AI technology. Built with action in mind, Eleve ncombines natural voice interaction with the power to execute tasks, thanks to native support for MCP (Modular Connector Protocol). This protocol enables seamless API integrations, allowing the assistant to connect with external tools and services effortlessly. ElevenLabs

Gartner Predicts 40% of Agentic AI Projects Will Be Scrapped by 2027: A Gartner report indicates that over 40% of agentic AI projects may be abandoned by 2027 due to rising costs and unclear business value. The report highlights a trend of “agent washing,” where vendors mislabel conventional AI tools as agentic without true autonomous capabilities.  Reuters

AI-Induced Job Disruptions: Sebastian Siemiatkowski, CEO of Klarna, has warned that artificial intelligence could lead to an economic recession due to widespread white-collar job losses. Klarna has reduced its workforce from 5,500 to 3,000 in two years and replaced 700 customer service jobs with a virtual assistant, saving $40 million annually. Fortune

Google Launches Gemini CLI for Developers Google has introduced Gemini CLI, an open-source AI agent designed to assist developers with tasks such as code writing, content generation, and in-depth research support. This tool aims to streamline coding tasks and enhance developer productivity Google

Botpress Secures $25M to Scale AI Agent Infrastructure: Botpress, a platform for building and deploying AI agents, has raised $25 million in Series B funding to enhance its AI agent infrastructure, aiming to facilitate the development of more sophisticated AI agents. Yahoo Finance

Google’s ‘Agent Mode’ Coming to Gemini App At Google I/O 2025, CEO Sundar Pichai announced the upcoming launch of “Agent Mode” in the Gemini app, allowing users to delegate complex tasks and planning to Gemini, moving beyond the traditional reactive nature of AI. TheVerge

Secure Agent Access Still a Roadblock The Wall Street Journal reports that AI agents continue facing hurdles with secure authentication and tool access—highlighting the need for new protocols like Anthropic’s Model Context Protocol (MCP). WSJ

Keep pushing boundaries and stay curious!

Fabian