Who is the Internet for? Humans or robots?
Box co-founder and CEO Aaron Levy told Business Insider that he believes the online world is gradually handing over the keys to AI agents, and that the transition has already begun.
“I think it’s easy to imagine a world where agents could be the biggest users of the Internet,” Levy said in a phone interview Tuesday. “The timeline is already here for us quantitatively.”
His declaration comes as several AI agent labs (OpenAI, Anthropic, and Cognition AI, to name a few) promise computers within computers that can search the web, scan databases, and read legal briefs.
If that activity expands dramatically, the impact on our online world will be structural, Levy said.
Software companies have traditionally optimized the user experience with easy-to-read dashboards, collaboration tools, and clean interfaces. Online companies will need to start optimizing for AI agents instead, he said.
“Much of the Internet will need to be rebuilt, or the software we use will need to be adapted,” he added. “All software is going to have to be built for agents. It’s going to be a seismic shift.”
This isn’t the first time Levie has said he thinks we should build a new internet for bots. In an X blog post on Sunday, he argued that “the way forward is to create the software that agents want.”
AI Agent… Are you using a credit card?
Levie also expects agents to start spending money online, especially in B2B environments.
“I might tell an agent I want them to do some work for me, and I’ll give them $20,” he said. “You’re investing money and using software tools and data, and that creates economic opportunity.”
This could be useful for the online content industry, he says. Instead of convincing people to sign expensive subscriptions, publishers can charge agents a small fee for access to specific research or data.
Levie believes businesses will be the first to adopt this technology. And everyday consumers will start enabling their own credit card-carrying bots in online stores.
For example, he said, future AI agents might buy groceries at the grocery store before a big meal.
He said, “Over time, as consumers become more and more comfortable, they may give their budgets for more consumer activities.”
Silicon Valley leaders have expressed similar excitement about the future of these AI agents. But some warn that bots could challenge Americans’ jobs.
Recently, OpenAI investor Vinod Khosla said he believes AI agents will take over 80% of all U.S. jobs by the 2030s. Claude Code creator Boris Cherny said the software engineer job title will start to “disappear” from this year. Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei also said AI could eliminate most entry-level white-collar jobs.
Levie speaks in a more measured tone. He believes the bigger question is not which jobs are destined, but how the internet will be restructured for the AI era.
“I think this new update on which agents could lead to a positive update,” he said. “It’s a dynamic of what content goes into an agent’s workflow. I think this is a new kind of challenge that everyone is facing.”
