https://www.vox.com/podcasts/508767/ai-agents-rage-economy-meta-muse
In an economy where most workflows are getting streamlined or automated, AI agents were supposed to offset the friction from real world interactions. However, the opposite is happening. Airlines such as United are stopping AI agents from booking trips. Many more companies are banning them.
Nonetheless, there is plenty of AI work to improve the customer experience. Most people hate calling customer service. A survey found that almost 80 percent of Americans had a problem with something they bought last year, and most of them got angry trying to fix it. Tech companies say AI agents, which are programs that do boring tasks for you, will solve this. After reviewing this podcast featuring Charlie Warzel, I think AI agents might make things worse at first.
AI agents never get tired, so they can keep calling and asking questions forever. They are already flooding:
- Call centers
- Restaurants
- Small businesses like plumbers
The people answering are still humans, and many don’t have AI helpers of their own. That isn’t fair, and it will stress a lot of people out.
Warzel also says the economy works partly because people don’t pay attention to everything. For example:
- People forget to cancel subscriptions.
- People don’t switch banks for a slightly better deal.
AI agents notice everything. That could make prices change every second, like the stock market. Millions of agents might even move money to the same bank at once, which could hurt other banks.
Companies are fighting back with their own AI. Amazon already blocks many agents so they can’t see secret information like:
- What’s in stock
- Who is buying what
In the end, stores might only let agents in on their own terms. So shopping could feel easier without saving you any money.
Warzel also points out that AI agents let us avoid talking to other people, which he thinks is antisocial. He asks what we will do with all the time we save. His guess is more scrolling or more work.
AI agents are overwhelming workers, mess up the economy, and mostly help big companies. Before we let robots do everything for us, we should think about what we really want our lives to look like.
For this reason, my side project focuses on expanding IRL opportunities by using AI to reduce the hassle of life discovery and logistics: IRL group. A balance is needed in the pursuit of life optimization.
