-
Retool is launching a platform for AI to automate tasks.
-
The system, Agents, allows users to build agents on top of every large language model on the market.
-
Retool’s CEO says the launch comes as leaders ask: “How do we get LLMs to actually replace labor?”
While public debates swirl around AI ethics and safety, Retool CEO David Hsu said the real conversation his clients are having is simpler: “How do we get LLMs to actually replace labor?”
Retool, a platform for building AI applications that works with the consulting firm Boston Consulting Group and companies including Amazon Web Services and Databricks, has an answer.
On Wednesday, Retool launched Agents, its version of AI agents. Retool’s system is meant to help users build, test, and manage agents.
“People are kind of scared to talk about it publicly, and actually, many of our customers even are kind of scared to talk about it publicly,” Hsu told Business Insider, referring to replacing labor.
But as companies debate ways to automate jobs with large language models, they’re also dabbling in the next generation.
On a podcast last year, Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff said that “we’re hitting the upper limits of the LLMs right now” and that the future lies in autonomous agents. Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang has said he believes we’ll all be working alongside agents and “AI employees” one day.
These virtual assistants don’t just respond to queries or make predictions from patterns; they complete tasks autonomously by breaking down problems, outlining plans, and troubleshooting when they encounter a tough problem. 2025 has been billed as the year of agents, as companies such as OpenAI, Salesforce, and Glean have launched platforms to help people build and manage agents.
Retool’s Agents not only allows users to build agents on top of every large language model on the market but also tackles two areas Hsu sees as key to making agents more effective.
One is building “hyperspecific” agents, Hsu said, which are more accurate than agents set up to do broad tasks like browsing the web. The second is an agent management system Hsu described as a kind of “god view” which allows users to observe what agents are doing at any given point, including past behavior. “You can micromanage agents, and they don’t care if they have to be micromanaged,” Hsu said.
Hsu said customers were already using agents for external work like customer service. He gave an example of a company that built an agent to handle customer refunds using three tools: one to look up customers by name, another to find their latest invoice in the payments platform Stripe, and a third to issue the refund.
Companies are also redesigning internal work with agents, using them as stand-ins for middle management. Some clients are using agents to analyze meetings and go back to employees and say, “Hey, actually, you didn’t do well in this meeting,” Hsu said. One company, he said, is even considering doing away with sales managers because the “agent manager” is giving more objective feedback.
Retool’s agents use a pay-by-the-hour model, starting at $3 an hour. Customers pay for agents only when they’re actively working, and rates are based on the LLM they’re using. That means that rather than pay for an employee, companies can outsource work to a bot for an hourly wage.
The strategy reflects concerns that companies have raised about returns on artificial intelligence investment. BCG’s AI Radar survey of over 1,800 C-level executives found that while 75% ranked generative AI in their top three strategic priorities, only 25% said they saw value in it.
Read the original article on Business Insider
