Venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz (a16z) announced the formation of an AI agent economy, in which software assistants are becoming important users of the internet and intermediaries between consumers and businesses.
Agents now make up the majority of web traffic, write more than half of new articles published online, and generate most of the code pushed to production.
This is what the early stage of a platform shift looks like: adoption is measurable, but the business models it enables mostly aren’t visible yet.
Welcome to the agent economy.
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— a16z (@a16z) November 11, 2026
In the article, investors described the transition to the B2A (business-to-agent) model, in which agents will independently search for goods, choose services, and make purchases on behalf of people.
According to a16z, this could become the next major shift in the digital economy after the spread of the web and mobile devices.
"The main users of the internet are no longer humans. They are AI agents," the authors of the material noted.
According to their assessment, agents already make up the majority of web traffic, write more than half of new articles on the internet, and generate most of the code that developers run in production environments.
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AI agents are changing customer engagement and sales
a16z believes that artificial intelligence has already significantly expanded users' capabilities, but the change in how products are distributed is only beginning. Whereas previously websites and mobile applications helped companies find customers, now increasingly this role will be performed by agents that can evaluate offers and complete tasks without constant human involvement.
AI agent traffic.
The first signs of this process are already noticeable:
- Shopify: traffic from AI sources to the platform's stores grew eightfold in Q1 2026 compared to the same period a year earlier, and the number of orders after AI search — almost 13 times;
- Human Security: traffic from agentic browsers increased eightfold between August and October 2026. The largest share of activity came from Muse — 60%, while OpenAI products combined accounted for 30%;
- GitHub: as of September 2026, more than 40% of pull requests (PRs) began with a draft created by an AI agent. Six months earlier, this figure was 17%.
At the same time, AI traffic can be more valuable for business than regular visits: users directed by language models show higher engagement and more often convert into purchases. According to an a16z estimate, even before the spread of full-fledged agents, about 11% of consumer paths to purchase in the US already included interaction with AI before transitioning to the seller's website.
Which companies benefit from the agent economy
a16z identified four business areas that could benefit most from the transition to B2A:
- agent and model developers: this category includes autonomous assistants and products that integrate agentic functions. The company sees a separate opportunity in ChatGPT with 1.2 billion weekly active users;
- new agent-based products: this refers to autonomous small businesses, marketplaces with AI intermediaries, and automatic optimization services;
- companies that adapt products for agents. If SEO and generative search optimization (GEO) help get into AI answers, then the agent economy will extend competition to the evaluation of offers and the direct execution of purchases;
- infrastructure services: agents will need tools for payments, identity verification, fraud protection, and communication.
According to investors, software development has already become an example of future changes. In particular, Supabase reported that over 60% of new databases are created by AI tools, and Stripe noted that agents account for nearly 40% of traffic to documentation and 70% of CLI requests regarding API resources.
At a16z, they emphasize that the current stage is only the beginning of a change in the business model. Companies that previously blocked bots due to risks of fraud and payment reversals may be forced to reconsider their approach, as AI agents will become increasingly important sources of traffic and revenue.
Recall that Mastercard recently opened early access to a payment system for AI agents, and US banks such as Morgan Stanley, JPMorgan, Bank of America, and Wells Fargo are tightening control over third-party AI agents that gain access to client accounts.