Box, a well-known cloud storage provider, is stepping up its game by adding smart AI tools that help businesses make the most of their data. Since it has been around for over 20 years, Box has seen many shifts in tech, and now it’s riding the wave of generative AI, which took off in late 2022. The company’s goal is to make work easier and faster for employees by turning messy, unorganized data into useful insights.

Bringing Intelligence to Unstructured Data

One of the biggest challenges companies face today is dealing with unstructured data—think contracts, videos, emails, images, and presentations scattered across different systems. These files are hard to search through and often underused. Box is developing AI agents that can understand this kind of data, analyze it, and provide context. It’s like having a super-smart assistant that can read, watch, and categorize all your files, saving hours of manual work.

The idea is to bridge the gap between raw data and actionable information. Instead of just storing files, companies want AI to help answer questions, spot issues, or find specific content quickly. For example, an AI agent might review marketing materials, check for brand consistency, or analyze videos for safety violations. Customers can even train these agents to follow particular rules, making them behave like expert employees who know exactly what to look for.

Security and Privacy Are Top Priorities

Since data security is a big concern, Box emphasizes that its AI tools are built with enterprise-grade protections. The AI models don’t learn or store customer data—they only process it in real-time. This means your sensitive information stays private, and the AI can’t leak secrets or access files it shouldn’t see. Box also makes sure that all operations happen in secure, isolated environments, so data remains safe.

Handling multimodal content—things like images, videos, and audio—is another focus. The same AI techniques that analyze text can now interpret pictures or videos, which opens up new possibilities. For instance, AI can review construction site images for safety issues or help media companies generate stories from visual stories or comic strips. This ability to understand different types of media means that unstructured data becomes much more usable and valuable.

Looking Ahead: Smarter, More Automated AI Agents

Box is working on developing more advanced AI agents that can handle complex tasks across workflows. These agents will be able to automate repetitive or lengthy processes, like extracting data from contracts or digital assets. The goal is to let AI do the heavy lifting so employees can focus on higher-level work. For example, a company might use AI to check legal documents for issues or ensure brand consistency without manual review.

Upcoming features include smarter agents that can perform multiple functions and coordinate workflows automatically. Companies will be able to ask AI to perform checks, gather data, or generate reports on their behalf. This kind of automation could revolutionize how businesses handle large amounts of information, making operations more efficient and less prone to human error.

Overall, Box’s move into agentic AI aims to transform unstructured enterprise data into a powerful resource. By combining security, advanced analysis, and automation, the company hopes to help organizations unlock new efficiencies and insights from their existing data assets. As AI technology matures, it will become an integral part of how businesses manage and utilize their information, turning traditional storage into a dynamic intelligence hub.

Inspired by

• https://www.computerworld.com/article/4054046/box-cto-ben-kus-talks-up-the-marriage-of-cloud-storage-genai-agents.html

Sources

• gmpg.org
• wsj.com
• spglobal.com
• theregister.com
• nytimes.com