Trend
Framing the big-picture shift reshaping how business gets done.
The internet is no longer just browsed, it is delegated.
For decades, companies optimized for human clicks. SEO, ads, funnels, and personalization strategies were designed for people typing queries and making choices.
That era is ending.
AI agents are stepping in as intermediaries, a type of digital representative acting on behalf of customers. Instead of searching, customers will delegate. Instead of comparing, they will outsource decisions. The battleground of visibility is shifting from SEO (Search Engine Optimization) to GEO (Generative Engine Optimization), where the goal is not to be ranked, but to be recommended by agents.
This isn’t theory. AI agents are already booking trips, filling shopping carts, managing inboxes, and even negotiating subscriptions. Gartner projects that by 2028, one-third of user experiences could bypass your app or site entirely.
Companies must ask themselves: if your customer never sees your interface, what happens to your brand?
Soon, your most important customer won’t be a person clicking a link, it will be their AI agent deciding whether you make the cut. Forget the playbook on direct-to-consumer (DTC). We are entering the MTC era: machine-to-consumer. The question is no longer “How do we win the customer’s attention?” but “How do we win their agent’s trust?”
Signal
Real-world moves that prove the shift is already underway
The early signs of the Agentic AI Era are already here:
Booking.com and Expedia are piloting AI travel concierges that enable conversational, end-to-end trip planning integrated with their platforms, moving beyond traditional search interfaces (OpenAI blog, TechCrunch).
Amazon’s Rufus is testing as a shopping companion that guides decisions in real time, recommending products rather than surfacing search results and featuring a ‘Buy for me’ option for hands-off purchase decisions.
SEO firms are rebranding and specializing in GEO strategies to help businesses appear in AI agent-generated local and personalized search recommendations.
OpenAI, Google, and Anthropic are competing to become the dominant AI platforms for everyday decision-making and consumer interactions. All three giants have very recently launched agent check-out options, promoting frictionless e-commerce within their platforms.
Perplexity AI and ChatGPT are acting as default discovery layers, where users no longer click through 10 search results but accept agent-curated answers.
The signals are clear. Agents are becoming the new middlemen.
Spark
A provocative 'what if' that stretches strategic thinking forward.
What if the last human frontier is face-to-face?
What if the real premium channel becomes local and human? Community events. Trusted word-of-mouth. Proximity. As agents dominate online interactions, face-to-face could be the only place where trust is earned without an algorithm.
Agents are taking over search, shopping, scheduling, and discovery. But there’s one realm they haven’t cracked: local community.
What if in-person, close-to-home, real-world interactions become more valuable precisely because the rest of our choices are filtered by machines? Could the Agentic AI Era paradoxically revive neighborhood connections, community events, and human-led trust networks?
If online discovery is handed to agents, the differentiator may be what happens offline. Face-to-face could very well be the new premium channel.
Strategy
Turning future signals into decisive advantage.
How to adapt before Agents own your customer journey
Optimize for GEO, not SEO: Position your company where agents look: trusted data sources, knowledge graphs, structured content, verified partnerships.
Think “trust tokens,” not keywords: Agents will reward credibility, transparency, and verified expertise. Make your proof points machine-readable.
Design for delegation: Assume the customer won’t see your funnel. Focus on making it easy for agents to validate your offering and recommend you.
Double down on in-person: Balance the digital shift with local, experiential, and human touchpoints that agents can’t replicate, both with your customers and within your teams.
Stewardship
A reflection on the legacy of your strategic choices and the future they shape.
Who shapes trust in the Age of Agents?
When AI intermediaries become the real decision makers, companies risk losing direct connection to their customers. The danger is designing for machines and forgetting the people behind them.
The responsibility is to build for both: machine-readable trust signals that agents can process, and human-readable values that communities can feel.
The rise of agents may automate discovery, but companies that anchor themselves in authenticity and community will keep the human connection alive.
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The views expressed here are my own and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of any organization I am affiliated with.
People illustrations by Storyset