TIER 2 - AGENTS

I did multiple presentations on Agents in 2023, but they were mostly fringe and unwieldy. I'd say the overall Agent Era started for real ~ Late 2024 / Early 2025. Instead of us asking questions and getting answers from Chatbots, we assign work to Agents that can autonomously do work on our behalf. The initial transition from Chatbots to Agents as the main way of thinking about and using AI. Standalone agents via LangGraph, other frameworksEarly 2025 accelerationClaude Code and n8n makes them mainstreamClaude Code best/most-used example, but CLI-basedAgents are mostly ephemeral (n8n/similar being the exception)Early voice interaction stuffExperimental computer usage ~ March 2025 - Current.

NOTE: Significant Claude Code bias in my analysis here. Agents start to become the main mental model for AI work. Agents become a lot more controllable and deterministic due to scaffolding of Agentic Systems like Claude CodeBackground and scheduled agents starting to materializeVoice accelerates as a usage patternEarly signs of universal accessibility, e. g. , you can interact with your agents via a mobile app or OS assistantComputer usage gets more serious but still isn't mainstream ~ Early/Mid 2026 - Late 2026 / Early 2027?

Predictions are hard, especially about the future. Niels Bohr The final form of Agents vs. Assistants, with the main distinction being personality and trust. There will be initial signs of proactivity in AG2 and AG3. Agents are now both interactive but also running continuously in the background, both locally and in the cloudAgents easily manageable from mobile / device when not on main system / traveling / etc.

Extensive use of voice as the interfaceComputer usage becomes viable and adoption beginsVery advanced and steerable, but still mostly reactive vs.