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Agents will use apps for us
Skipping the app
Right now, a person with a problem makes an app and uses that app to solve it. Agents skip the middle step: a person articulates the problem and it gets solved. Instead of creating the intermediate app, the agent just does the thing.
Agents with skills
Agents store memories and create skills for themselves, made of software, API calls, and scripts they can reuse. Their computer use is going to get really good over the next two to three months, to the point that they use a browser better than a person does. Text one on iMessage or ChatGPT, and it works the software on your desktop for you.
Fewer apps, more intent
People will still make apps: perhaps 50% of the apps in use will be self-made. The current explosion of apps will decline, though. With agents running loops that use and write software, the interaction goes from prompting to expressing intent: state the larger problem, and the agent figures out what it needs to do.
How does an AI agent operate a computer?
Computer-use agents work in a loop. The model receives a screenshot of the screen, decides on an action such as moving the cursor, clicking, or typing, and then receives a fresh screenshot showing the result. Anthropic released this capability in public beta in October 2024, and other AI labs have shipped similar tools. Each step depends on the model reading the interface correctly, which makes dense or unusual layouts harder than simple ones.
Why do agents need memory and skills?
A language model reads only the text in its context window, and it retains nothing between separate sessions unless that text is supplied again. Agent systems get around this by writing notes to files or databases and retrieving the relevant ones later. Skills work the same way: a packaged set of instructions and scripts is stored once and loaded when a matching task comes up. This lets an agent repeat a procedure it worked out earlier without rediscovering it.
How did smartphones create the app boom?
Apple's App Store opened on July 10, 2008, with 500 apps. Before that, phone software mostly came from carriers and handset makers, and outside developers had little way to reach buyers. A single storefront with built-in payments let small teams sell to a worldwide audience. Within a few years, the store listed hundreds of thousands of apps.
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