From Multi-Agent Systems and the Semantic Web to Agentic AI: A Unified Narrative of the Web of Agents
arXiv:2507.10644v4 Announce Type: replace-cross Abstract: The Web of Agents (WoA) transforms the document-centric Web into an environment of autonomous agents acting on users' behalf, a vision newly tractable as large language models (LLMs) mature. We argue that across three decades the WoA has undergone a \emph{semantic-effort migration} in chronological order: from platform-side coordination (Multi-Agent Systems, Generation~I), through data-side annotation (Semantic Web, Generation~II), to model-side interpretation (LLM-era, Generation~III). The central Gen~II~$\rightarrow$~Gen~III transitio
The maturation of large language models (LLMs) makes the vision of autonomous agents acting on users' behalf newly tractable, prompting renewed focus on the Web of Agents concept.
This paper provides a unified narrative of the progression towards a 'Web of Agents', signifying a fundamental architectural shift in how digital environments will function and interact with users.
The shift from a document-centric Web to an agent-centric environment, with AI models interpreting and acting, fundamentally alters interaction paradigms and data utilization strategies.
- · AI platform developers
- · Agentic AI companies
- · Users of autonomous services
- · Traditional SaaS providers
- · Manual workflow operators
- · Outdated data annotation services
The acceleration of AI agents leads to collapsing white-collar workflows and a significant reduction in the need for human intermediaries in many digital tasks.
This shift promotes further consolidation of digital power into entities that control foundational AI models and agent orchestration platforms.
The pervasive deployment of autonomous agents could fundamentally alter human-computer interaction, shifting from explicit command to delegated autonomy, raising new ethical and control challenges.
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