Companies build AI agents to control interfaces

The author argues that as AI agents increasingly serve as the interface between customers and services, the companies providing those underlying services risk losing direct control over customer relationships and decision-making data. Platforms are responding either by building their own conversational assistants, restricting external agent access, or selectively exposing capabilities through APIs and Model Context Protocol servers. Ultimately, whoever controls the interface will retain the power to shape customer interactions and act as a gatekeeper. Open article →