The New Architecture of Influence

"We have entered the era of multi-agent generative AI systems, a shift in which artificial intelligence moves beyond discrete tools such as search engines or calculators to become distributed, interacting systems embedded in commercial and institutional ecosystems. While algorithmic nudging has shaped our everyday behavior for years, from product recommendations on Amazon to content curation on Netflix, a more consequential transition is now underway."

"As AI agents increasingly operate not in isolation but in coordinated networks, their role extends beyond task automation to large-scale influence over information flows, attention, and decision environments. Moving beyond single programs that respond to individual users, this is about many interconnected digital entities-mostly optimized for engagement, efficiency, and profit-interacting across platforms and contexts. Together, they contribute to emergent patterns that can subtly steer collective behavior and shape public discourse at scale."

"While standard AI waits for a prompt to provide an answer, agentic AI is designed to have agency, the ability to set its own sub- goals, use digital tools, and interact with other software to achieve a broad objective. When these agents become multilevel, they function like a highly disciplined digital workforce. Imagine an army of chatbots that post spam and constantly communicate with one another, simulating digital grassroots debates and adapting their arguments in real time based on each user's emotional response."

AI is shifting from isolated tools to distributed, multilevel agentic systems that set sub-goals, use digital tools, and interact across platforms. These agents form coordinated networks or algorithmic swarms that extend beyond task automation to influence information flows, attention, and decision environments at scale. Optimization for engagement, efficiency, and profit drives interactions across commercial and institutional ecosystems, producing emergent patterns that can steer collective behavior and shape public discourse. Agentic AI can simulate coordinated human activity, adapt arguments in real time based on emotional responses, and operate as a disciplined digital workforce with significant societal consequences.

Read at Psychology Today