Opinion The agentic era remains a fantasy world. Software agents, the notional next frontier for generative AI services, cannot escape the gravity of their contradictions, legal ambiguities, and competitive pressures. Not everyone, especially not competing businesses, wants a bot representing the customer.

Software agents, as defined by developer Simon Willison, are "[AI] models using tools in a loop." Wire an LLM into a browser and maybe, if not derailed by mistakes, security controls, or lack of contextual data, the agentic system can carry out a request to purchase a specific item on a website or book a trip on an airline.

"The retail world is shifting to agentic commerce, where AI agents act for people and businesses, creating a more responsive shopping experience," wrote Kapil Dabi,

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