Generative AI primarily changes an app's user interface, but agentic AI can bypass UIs entirely to complete tasks. This makes transaction-fulfillment apps, which constitute a huge portion of the market, vulnerable to being replaced by agents that act directly on a user's behalf.

Major AI platforms are becoming "super agents" that connect to a user's software (e.g., email, YouTube) and use "skills" to perform complex, autonomous tasks. This convergence means the choice of platform is becoming a matter of user interface and integration preference rather than unique functionality.

AI agents are becoming the dominant source of internet traffic, shifting the paradigm from human-centric UI to agent-friendly APIs. Developers optimizing for human users may be designing for a shrinking minority, as automated systems increasingly consume web services.

Unlike generative AI (like ChatGPT) which only provides text output, agentic AI can perform actions on your behalf. It can log into accounts, click buttons, and complete multi-step tasks, shifting AI from a smart consultant to an autonomous digital assistant.

Tools like OpenAI's Codex are integrating coding, document creation, browser control, and app-specific plugins into one platform. This signals a race among AI companies to become the central, unified "super app" where all knowledge work happens.

While tech giants may create walled gardens to control AI access (akin to Netflix in streaming), agentic AI has a workaround. Instead of relying on APIs, these agents can take control of a user's browser and interact with websites directly, potentially circumventing platform restrictions.

The future of work is shifting from app-switching to managing tasks through a unified agent interface. Companies like OpenAI (Codex) and Anthropic (Claude Code) are racing to create this new "operating system," a desktop app that serves as the primary surface for all agent-driven knowledge work.

Users will stop interacting with countless individual apps and websites. Instead, they'll communicate with a personal AI agent that handles tasks by interfacing with services via APIs, making traditional graphical user interfaces obsolete.

The next wave of AI is 'agentic,' meaning it can control a computer to execute commands and complete tasks, not just generate responses to prompts. This profound shift automates workflows like coding and administrative tasks, freeing humans for high-level creative and strategic work.