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Microsoft backs open agentic economy standards

by ailona•

Microsoft researchers outlined a shift toward an open “agentic economy” where AI assistants can shop, book, and negotiate across vendors. Their Communications of the ACM paper argues that open inter-agent markets beat today’s platform-bound “walled gardens.” The goal is a decentralized web of agents that transact without being trapped inside one company’s ecosystem.

Main change: from walled-garden agents to open inter-agent markets

Today, most agent experiences are siloed inside a single company site or app, like an airline chatbot. Microsoft’s paper proposes a decentralized “web of agents” where assistant agents act like browsers and service agents act like websites. In this model, any agent can discover and transact with any other. The impact is higher market fluidity, faster switching between services, and fewer lock-in dynamics.

Practical implications for builders, businesses, and governance

An open agentic economy needs programmatic, unscripted inter-agent communication in neutral marketplaces, not owned by one platform. Teams will need shared discovery, identity, and security protocols so agents can negotiate safely and verify counterparties. Businesses may compete more on product quality and terms than ads and captive funnels. Standards bodies and regulators will likely influence permissible negotiation behaviors and auditability requirements.
“We foresee a movement from what we’ll call the ‘attention economy’ to the ‘preference economy,’” he explains.
This direction raises immediate engineering questions around protocols, trust, and constrained autonomy for safety. Organizations should track emerging standards, model threat scenarios, and pilot agent-to-agent workflows in controlled environments. If open marketplaces form, early interoperability choices will determine who can participate and how competitive the ecosystem becomes.

Key points from the article:

  • Open agent markets let any assistant agent transact with any service agent.
  • Walled gardens risk lock-in and reduced innovation across platforms.
  • Agents could shop, book services, and negotiate terms on users’ behalf.
  • Standard protocols are needed for discovery, security, and inter-agent communication.
  • Governance must involve tech firms, standards bodies, businesses, and regulators.

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