As one of its first acts, the Trump administration in January signed Executive Order 14179, removing previous regulatory guardrails for artificial intelligence and placing the responsibility for this transformative technology squarely with the private sector. 

The private sector needs to embrace this duty, because the rapid development of so-called “AI agents,” which promise to transform the way consumers travel, shop and even receive medical care, is going to demand cooperative industry action to ensure open and competitive markets.

History has shown us that network effects — where the value of a platform grows as more people use it — can lead to significant market concentration. This dynamic can enable a small number of players to establish dominance and lead to high barriers to entry for newcomers.

Artificial intelligence is fated to follow this same trend. In fact, we are at a critical juncture where the same dynamics that created digital monopolies in the past are beginning to take hold — only faster, and with broader implications.

The next frontier of AI is not just what we see today: large language models or image generators. It is autonomous agents: AI systems acting on our behalf in everyday transactions. These agents will manage our schedules, compare insurance plans, negotiate purchases and more. They promise to make our lives easier by operating behind the scenes to save us time and money, and spare us cognitive load.

And their adoption is happening quickly. A

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