Post

At the end of my last post I said there's a cognitive cost to managing workflows and agents. I've noodled on that a bit ... One of the risks with agents is the same problem I ran into with smart homes (aka IoT).

Sev@sevitz.com

People don't think of their lives as a set of tasks, so "hey agent, sort my stuff out" doesn't solve much. Some thoughts after percolating on this bsky.app/profile/tres...

Sev

@sevitz.com

You start off getting one light bulb and it's great. Then a couple more bulbs, maybe a robot vacuum, some switches, a couple of cams, the doorbell. Suddenly you're managing 10, 15 things with schedules, timers, software updates, and some things you've forgotten the passwords for.

Sev

@sevitz.com

It's not made your life easier and the smart home is a real mission. You start to get really fed up, really fast. I'm seeing the same thing with AI and agents. One process, one schedule, one agent running. Then two, then ten. Now you've got a problem managing the agents.

7/10/26, 9:48 am0 reposts0 likes

Sev

@sevitz.com

Related, and another one to ponder: A slow ceding of agency by Adam Singer hottakes.space/p/a-slow-ceding-of-agency

Sev

@sevitz.com

I've written up a bit more on sevitz.com/thoughts-about/the-smart-home-problem Does it become a solved problem, or a whole new problem space? Stuff to noodle on

sevitz.comThe smart home problem | Adrian SevitzOne of the risks with agents is the same problem as the smart home: you end up with so many things to manage that it hasn't made your life easier.