Databricks Updates Genie for Multistep Business Tasks

Databricks updates its Genie AI agent to complete extended, multistep business tasks without supervision, according to TechCrunch. An ontology gives the agent context from information customers store on the Databricks platform.

CEO Ali Ghodsi demonstrated how he uses Genie to analyze weak results in employee satisfaction surveys, assess proposed fixes and summarize unsuccessful sales pitches. The agent also reviewed his previous podcast appearances to prepare likely interview questions.

Ghodsi said he uses it to find out what is going wrong that nobody tells him anymore. Citing Dunbar's number, he said a founder knows all staff at 150 people, but at 12,000 employees a salesperson is unlikely to confess a failed pitch to the chief executive.

Databricks is positioning Genie as an always on agent for business leaders. Companies can use Unity Gateway to set usage limits and switch to less expensive open weight models to control costs.