One signal

AI agents promise to take the drudgery out of shopping and customer service. In a Vox interview, The Atlantic’s Charlie Warzel argues they could make the experience worse, with agents already flooding call centres, restaurant booking systems and small businesses with requests.

Warzel’s concern is a two-sided arms race: people’s agents pursuing the best deal while companies deploy their own, or block access to their platforms. He also warns that automated agents could move money or make purchases at a pace that leaves little room for human hesitation. It’s a warning, not a forecast that this chaos is inevitable. But it puts a practical question behind the promise of convenience: when both sides automate the argument, who gets a better deal?

Discuss: If customer-facing companies deploy their own AI agents, should consumers trust personal agents to negotiate on their behalf, or will that just move the fight behind another automated screen?

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