How many AI Agents will serve you?

I’ve recently been speaking in Tokyo, Dubai, Silicon Valley and remotely from my Tiny Airstream Studios, about AI Agents and how they are going to change the internet, business, society, and us.

I love to engage and ask the audience, “In two years, how many AI agents will serve you?” I pause and listen as the responses vary widely. It’s a philosophical question, as the answer depends on each person, culture, and even government regulations on big tech.

• How big tech often answers: Tech giants will have you believe you’ll only use their “superagent” (a single AI agent), but given the number of competing tech giants, that’s an unlikely scenario.

  • Google may say: you only need our superagent that really knows everything

  • Amazon may say: You just need our superagent that brings you the best goods and food —before you know you want it

  • Apple may say: The only secure and safe superagent, it’s free! (with a $2k iPhone)
    

• How startup founders often answers: Startup CEOs working on AI agents often suggest you’ll use thousands, which is plausible—execution agents will complete tasks as requested by your primary interface agent.

So what’s my answer: "How many AI agents will serve us in 2 years? 

1. The number of agents you’ll have is equal to the number of email accounts you currently use. Today, most people have around three email accounts: one personal, one as a catch-all, and one issued by their employer. I predict you’ll have at least three AI agents serving you in the same way.

2. As many as you can afford. AI agents will emerge under two primary business models: free AI agents, likely aligned with tech giants, and premium AI agents that require a subscription or charge per successful action. If you’re not paying for the agent, then you’re serving the agent.

So that’s my answer. Now, what’s yours? Write back:

In two years, how many AI agents will you have working for you?

Above: I was the kickoff speaker at the Agentic AI Pitch & Demo Night in downtown SF at Digital Garage to present the 2025 AI Agent Ecosystem. Thank you FetchAI Innovation Lab (Sana Wajid), hosted by Aiffy (Steven Echtman) & owow (Gangesh Pathak), with TheAgentic. Shout out to Kevin Mei for the photo.