Workera’s AI Mentor Sage: Transforming Skill Development

Kian Katanforoosh, CEO of Workera, has launched an AI agent named Sage to provide a form of automated mentorship. Mentored by renowned AI expert Andrew Ng, Katanforoosh aims to democratize mentorship by using AI to assess employee skill levels and recommend learning paths.

Automating Skill Assessment and Personalized Learning

Workera’s Sage is designed to evaluate an employee’s skills, goals, and needs through brief tests and recommend relevant online courses from platforms like Coursera and Workday. The AI agent offers personalized feedback on skills such as writing, machine learning, and math, providing employees with a roadmap for improvement.

The Challenge of Replacing Human Mentors

Katanforoosh acknowledges that while Sage can assess and recommend learning paths, it lacks the emotional support and networking opportunities that human mentors provide. However, by automating skill assessments and recommending improvements to meet their goals, Sage aims to offer a level of mentorship that is often inaccessible to many.

However, as remote work becomes more prevalent, young employees have fewer opportunities to connect with experienced colleagues and gain valuable insights. Workera’s CEO believes the company’s new AI agent can help bridge this gap by providing accessible mentorship in a digital workspace.

A Vision for Broader Impact

As the son of Iranian immigrants who had to abandon their studies, Katanforoosh believes that AI-driven skill assessments could one day benefit people in similar situations. Although Workera currently serves Fortune 500 employees, he envisions making these tools available to a broader audience in the future.

Workera's AI-Powered Assessments: A New Way to Invest in Employees

Workera has secured over $44 million to develop AI-generated tests for enterprise employees, providing companies with tools to assess and enhance workforce skills. While employees may be hesitant to be evaluated against their peers, Workera aims to create a supportive environment for professional development.

Sage, the company’s new AI agent, offers a more conversational and integrated experience, utilizing OpenAI’s multimodal models for flexible and scalable assessments. According to CEO Kian Katanforoosh, 95% of Sage’s interactions are powered by GPT-4o, with the new o1 model handling complex tasks that require deeper reasoning.

Addressing Bias and Improving Equity in AI

Katanforoosh teaches a course at Stanford on bias mitigation in AI and is optimistic about reducing bias in AI models. He believes that with the right algorithms, AI systems can be more equitable in assessing skills, providing a fairer alternative to human judgment, making the outputs of AI models more equitable.

Balancing AI and Human Mentorship

While AI can handle some aspects of mentorship, Katanforoosh emphasizes the importance of human involvement in areas like encouragement and career guidance. By automating skill assessments, managers can focus on providing the human support that AI cannot yet replicate, like offering emotional support, encouragement, and connections.

Sage’s Early Access and Future Expansion

Sage will be available to early access customers, including Booz Allen, in November 2024, with general access for clients like the U.S. Air Force and Accenture planned for March 2025. Workera aims to use Sage to integrate its platform more seamlessly and offer a conversational experience that enhances its skill assessment capabilities.

The Future of AI-Driven Mentorship

Workera’s Sage is not a perfect mentor, but it offers a unique way to assess and develop skills in the workplace. By automating certain aspects of mentorship, Sage could become a valuable tool for managers looking to invest in their teams and support employee growth.