Satya Nadella suggests a fundamental shift in enterprise software monetization. As autonomous AI agents become prevalent, the value unit will move from the human user ("per seat") to the AI itself. "Agents are the new seats," signaling a future where companies pay for automated tasks and outcomes, not just software access for employees.

The internet was built for human interaction. The rise of autonomous agents shopping for products and services on our behalf signals the dawn of an 'agentic web.' This will force a fundamental shift in marketing and sales, requiring businesses to learn how to effectively market to and be discovered by AI agents, not just humans.

As AI agents reduce the number of human "seats" required to use software, vendors are accelerating their move from seat-based licenses to usage-based models. The revenue lost from fewer users is expected to be offset by higher consumption, as automated workflows interact with platforms far more intensively than human employees.

The dominant per-user-per-month SaaS business model is becoming obsolete for AI-native companies. The new standard is consumption or outcome-based pricing. Customers will pay for the specific task an AI completes or the value it generates, not for a seat license, fundamentally changing how software is sold.

The business model is shifting from selling software to selling outcomes. Instead of creating a tool and inviting users, create pre-trained agents that perform valuable work. Then, invite companies to a workspace where this 'team' of AI employees is ready to start delivering value immediately.

The traditional per-seat SaaS model is becoming a "tax on productivity" in an agent-driven world. As companies buy agents to do work instead of software for humans, the model shifts. Sam Altman's comment that every company is now an API company reflects this move from user-based pricing to value-based, programmatic access.

The real, market-shattering disruption is not companies adding AI features, but the advent of autonomous agents. Jerry Murdock emphasizes that this is a fundamental shift, creating an entirely new class of product and user, which is far more significant than bolting AI onto existing software.

As AI agents become autonomous workers, Microsoft's business model will shift from selling tools to humans to provisioning infrastructure for AI agents. This includes compute (Windows 365), security, and identity for these new digital employees, billed on a per-agent basis.

In the age of AI, software is shifting from a tool that assists humans to an agent that completes tasks. The pricing model should reflect this. Instead of a subscription for access (a license), charge for the value created when the AI successfully achieves a business outcome.