The agentic divide: How AI agents are creating a new economic inequality
By
Rina Chandran
Pure flour-power. Hearty enough to carry you through lunch.
Summary
The article discusses the rise of AI agents (built on large language models) and the emerging concept of "agentic inequality" — the divide between those who can leverage advanced AI agents to automate complex workflows and those who rely on "good enough" AI. It warns that well-resourced firms and individuals who deploy sophisticated AI agents will gain disproportionate economic advantages, while others risk falling behind in the new economy. The piece explores the economic consequences for companies, countries, and people as AI agents become ubiquitous.
Key quotes
· 3 pulledAI agents are forecast to become ubiquitous in the coming years, raising concerns about agentic inequality, and its economic consequences for companies, countries, and people.
By automating complex workflows for a fraction of traditional labor costs, well-resourced firms and individuals can secure more benefits.
AI agents are built on top of large language models, and can reason and take actions to complete tasks on behalf of users.
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