UiPath Inc.’s business automation platform is getting a boost with the integration of new generative artificial intelligence, specialized AI and automation capabilities that will make it simple to automate almost any business task using natural language.

The new features were announced today at UiPath’s annual user conference FORWARD VI, where the company unveiled its Autopilot tool. The company said Autopilot is so powerful that it will be able to transform paper documents into business applications within a single click. It claims that it will deliver “untapped automation prospects” and guarantee the efficient development of new business automations.

UiPath has long been viewed as a leading player in AI thanks to its robotic process automation tools, which are used by companies to reduce costs and operational errors by automating many repetitive work-related tasks, such as data entry. Its platform is powered by AI models that learn how these tasks are performed by humans. Those models then create software robots that are able to replicate these workflows, so they no longer need to be done manually.

With the launch of Autopilot, UiPath said, it’s taking business automation to the next level, integrating generative AI with a library of specialist AI models trained to perform different tasks, and making it so simple that everyone can use it.

As an example, UiPath said both professional and citizen developers will be able to use Autopilot to create automations, code and expressions with natural language. With these capabilities, they can create more complex workflows and even build full automation-powered business applications from PDFs and image files.

“By taking a user’s words, screenshots, or PDFs from paper documents as an input, Autopilot for Apps can create a robust automation workflow or interfaces for automations,” said UiPath Chief Product Officer Graham Sheldon. “This enables ‘one-click digital transformation’ for organizations by taking automated action.”

Meanwhile, Autopilot for UiPath Assistant is an AI companion that will help business users everywhere to simplify an array of tasks. Among its capabilities is Clipboard AI, which is a time-saving feature for copying and pasting complex data from one application to another. The AI companion will help users save time to accomplish data-intensive work and other tedious tasks, UiPath said.

Autopilot for Test Suite will help to accelerate every phase of the automation testing lifecycle, meaning new automations can be pushed into production more quickly. And Autopilot for Process Mining will help business analysts to create dashboards that highlight new automation opportunities.

UiPath’s Autopilot shows how generative AI is helping to achieve a new level of business automation that many had previously thought was unreachable, said Holger Mueller of Constellation Research Inc. “UiPath is tackling automation in a holistic way across its value chain, helping business analysts, developers, automation testers and other users,” he said. “The most promising aspect of Autopilot is its document-to-app capability, which can help many organizations to achieve a new level of automation.”

Flo Ye, Dentsu Inc.’s director of automation solutions, said the thing that sets UiPath’s Autopilot apart from other generative AI copilots is that it enables brainstorming as well as performing actions. “In other words, Autopilot works alongside humans the way we actually work, across applications and contexts,” he said. “I’m particularly excited about how Autopilot for StudioX will continue to lower the barriers to automation entry for our cohort of citizen developers at Dentsu.”

What’s more, UiPath said customers will be able to integrate these new capabilities with a high level of confidence thanks to a new AI Trust Layer, which is a management framework for the governance of data and user interactions. It’s all about helping companies to responsibly manage how generative AI is being used across their organizations.

“The UiPath AI Trust Layer will allow customers to use these new AI capabilities with confidence knowing their data is secure,” Sheldon said.

Image: WangXINa/Freepik