What Are AI Agents—And Who Profits From Them?

Most races have a prize pool. The New York City  marathon winner gets $100,000. 2023’s F1 winner took home a $140 million pot. 

The winner of the race I’m going to describe will earn billions. Maybe tens of billions. They’ll bend the arc of the universe. They’ll materially increase GDP.

This is the race toward the AI agent. Agents are the next step in the AI race and the focus of every major tech company, research lab, and leading AI startup. 

I’ve spent months talking with founders, investors, and scientists, trying to understand what this technology is and who the players are. Today, I’m going to share my findings. I’ll cover:

• What an AI agent is
• The major players 
• The technical bets 
• The future

Let’s get into it. 

What is an agentic workflow?