Here Comes the Second Wave Of Intelligent Agents

Whether You Are Ready Or Not

Photo by Tim Marshall on Unsplash

What? Second wave? Was there a first wave?

I’m sure you’ve recently heard about “Agentic AI,” “Intelligent Agents,” or “Multiagent Systems.” But is it real or just hype? We’ll find out in this post.

And yes, there was a first wave of intelligent agents.

In this post, I’ll explain two things:

• One is what the first agent wave was, and how it failed to deliver on its promise.
• The other one is how this new agent wave differs, and whether it is more of the same or will succeed this time.

And one additional thing: I’ll explain whether the current AI agent frenzy is just hype or a true revolution headed our way.

The First Agents Wave

I worked in AI research for 30+ years and in Intelligent Agents for a decade. I have published papers on the topic, but that was during the first wave of intelligent agents. I taught a course on agents over ten times for graduate students, so I’m writing this almost on autopilot.

But what was the first intelligent agent’s wave?

It all started with a fascinating idea Marvin Minsky, one of the AI founding fathers, had around…