The Big Problem with AI Agents

It's been roughly half a year since the 'agent era' was officially announced—a title so confidently futuristic it might as well come with its own hype soundtrack. But while everyone's busy chasing cost savings and labour replacements, something bigger is quietly happening in the wings.

Of course, we're still in the awkward infancy stage. Like a toddler confidently sprinting into a coffee table, AI agents are stumbling; though it's not really their fault. The real problem is how narrowly we've been thinking about them.

Even the terminology is getting fuzzy. Things we casually called "automation" a year ago have suddenly been upgraded to "agents." It's like rebranding leftovers as "chef-inspired cuisine"; catchy, but questionable. Yet behind these buzzwords lies an important difference:

• Assisted AI helps you do your job.

• Agent AI does your job while you have a coffee.

One enhances your actions; the other fundamentally reshapes what you do—or rather, what you don’t have to do.

Beyond Cost-Cutting: Unlocking Real Innovation

We might be missing the point if we only talk about AI agents in terms of cutting costs. That’s like describing smartphones purely as "phones without wires"—accurate but entirely missing the point.