Asymmetric Agents

Terence Eden — Wed, 19 Aug 2026 11:34:52 +0000

One of the promises of the AI-filled future is that we'll all have highly capable autonomous ~~servants~~ "agents" to work for us.

Even back in the 1990s, it was a common trope in future-gazing to insist that a person's personal ~~slave~~ agent would negotiate on their behalf. Ask your ~~meek digital pal~~ agent to find you a restuarant in town, tonight, for a hot date, catering to your dietary preferences, and within your budget. The little ~~butler~~ agent scurries off and, without your intervention, finds the perfect place, negotiates with the restaurant's ~~house boy~~ agent and books you a slap up meal.

Marvellous! You can tell your ~~manservant~~ agent to buy you clothes, reserve a flight, do the grocery shopping, or buy your wife flowers without having to lift a finger.

But, of course, there's a fly in the ointment. Not all ~~valets~~ agents are created equally. You're sending your Raspberry Pi powered ~~peon~~ agent against the full might of Amazon's bazillion datacentres.

Can a low-complexity ~~serf~~ agent be bullied, outwitted, and manipulated by a more capable ~~henchman~~ agent? It seems obvious to me that the answer is yes. Humans have a set of cognitive biases which render us susceptible to advertising tricks. AI may have different biases but will still be vulnerable to hypnosis and hacking.

Perhaps having my ~~secretary~~ agent negotiate with your PA agent to find a suitable meeting time for our Q2 KPI Deep Dive doesn't carry this sort of risk. But I'm sure that ~~scumbags~~ advertisers everywhere will be salivating at the thought of waylaying my innocent ~~footman~~ agent on its way to market.

A future where we delegate responsibility to ~~stochastic imbeciles~~ agents is one where we accept that we have no control over their susceptibility to more powerful and malevolent ~~thugs~~ agents.

Agentic AI is brilliant because I loath my family

Terence Eden — Tue, 16 Dec 2025 12:34:01 +0000

At a recent unconference on AI, someone introduced me to the story of a guy who'd tasked an LLM with writing a bedtime story for his daughter. It personalised the tale to include her favourite stuffed toy, whichever cartoon she was obsessing over, and a range of not-too-scary baddies.

And all I could think of was "don't you like your child?"

Your kid isn't a sophisticated media consumer who wants a three-act structure, b-plot, and Chekhov's gun. She just wants to spend time with her dad. She wants to see that he has noticed what she's interested in. She wants to know he cares.

This is the classic mistake made by tech-bros. The outcome might be the same, but not the intent.

Imagine that you were having a crappy day at work. You rant about it to your spouse and, when you get home, you discover they've cooked your favourite meal. Aren't they sweet! What a joy to have them in your life!

"My Agent automatically analyses all our chats. When it noticed your happiness score had dropped, it asked your agent what your favourite food was and then it used my pre-authorised credit card to order it."

Oh.

Having your mum's birthday noted in your calendar is probably sensible. Having an app to quickly buy flowers is convenient. Having an automated process which searches for the best deal on a bunch of roses in the week preceding her birthday - well that starts to feel like you're abdicating your filial duties. Having the agent scan her Facebook photos to make sure the bouquet matches her interior decor begins to feel creepy.

I'm sure agents will be good for lots of things. I'm happy to have a little robot buy books from my wishlist when they drop in price. I daresay I'll get used to my phone cheerfully telling me it noticed the trains are delayed and has booked a table at a local restaurant. Maybe an Agentic tutor will teach me a new language in a way that doesn't frustrate me.

But you can't outsource love.

It is often joked that the point of golf is to play as little golf as possible. Our relationships with each other aren't a series of transactions to be completed as efficiently as possible. We want to be reassured that our loved ones put effort into maintaining a relationship.

agentic – Terence Eden’s Blog

Asymmetric Agents

Agentic AI is brilliant because I loath my family