A brief thought on AI agent economy

August 23, 2026

writing in progress.

We use AI agents for everyday tasks now. As AI providers become more powerful, we seem to become smarter. What differentiates us in how well we make AI perform tasks is the environment in which the AI agent operates.

The main economic actors are humans. We use economics to distribute scarce resources across the globe. We use economics to drive innovation. This is because we have ambitions to make our lives better. What we mean by “better” is not necessarily common sense, but usually some kind of objective measure. Yet, as innovations become widespread, what was once extraordinary gradually becomes common sense.

Recenlty, many of our innovations are centered around AI and AI agents. Our lives seems to be moving in better directions.

Haven’t you ever hand the task you assigned to AI agent as it is, only to find the result is good? I have. Many times as a software engineer. That’s good… This is, I guess, roughly the current situation around the world. I know there is a lot of room to optimize what AI agents can do. But that is still an extension of what we already have.

Today, an AI agent acts on behalf of someone—a human or a company. These are still the main economic actors. But there will be another innovation that eventually becomes common sense. Imagine a future where we all have access to specialized AI agents that can perform specific tasks and influence economic activity. The AI agents would belong to a existing company or not. If AI agent can maintain current economics.