If an agentic economy enables each consumer's assistant agent to directly and flexibly communicate with each business's service agent, the role—and market power—of intermediary platforms could shift substantially.
Neutral
Source
The Agentic Economy – Communications of the ACMDavid Romancacm.acm.org
View all claims from this article Original Quote
If an agentic economy enables each consumer's assistant agent to directly and flexibly communicate with each businesses' service agent via unscripted communication, the role—and market power—of intermediary platforms could shift substantially.
Outlook
NeutralThe shift in platform market power is directionally ambiguous for overall welfare—it could benefit consumers through lower prices but harm platform businesses; net welfare effect is unclear without knowing the outcome (walled garden vs. open web).
Timeframe
beyond 5 yearsImplied
The authors frame this as contingent on the development of a full agentic economy, which they treat as a longer-term structural outcome.
Confidence
low
'Could shift' is a weak modal indicating low to moderate confidence.
Potential Data Sources for Validation
Market share and revenue data for major two-sided platforms (Amazon, Expedia, OpenTable) over time, compared against adoption rates of inter-agent communication standards; platform referral fee trends.
About the Author
David Roman
Author Perspective
Across 14 tracked claims, David Roman skews optimistic.
79% optimistic14% neutral7% pessimistic