AI agents went mainstream, and Amazon pushed back
What investors have said about this, week by week, in Sublimnl Current.
This was the biggest conversation of the week, with 23 investors posting about it. Amazon shutting off access for consumer shopping agents started it. Olivia Moore (@omooretweets) called the move both rational and a mistake, given how much of Amazon's profit comes from ads. Paul Graham (@paulg) saw it as an opening for a new competitor.
The bigger questions were about how agents will work. Andrew Chen (@andrewchen) asked whether personal agents can ever have network effects or will stay single-player tools. Nikita Bier (@nikitabier) said the web needs a standard way for agents to identify themselves. Seema Amble (@seema_amble) pointed to open questions about agents paying for things. Alex Iskold added a reality check: agents still need close human supervision on real tasks.
If you want to join in: Post one specific place where agents still break in your market, like a site that blocks them, a step that needs a human, or a payment that fails. Then ask what others see.