English

Build Agent Advocates, Not Platform Agents

Computers and Society 2025-06-23 v2

Abstract

Language model agents are poised to mediate how people navigate and act online. If the companies that already dominate internet search, communication, and commerce -- or the firms trying to unseat them -- control these agents, the resulting platform agents will likely deepen surveillance, tighten lock-in, and further entrench incumbents. To resist that trajectory, this position paper argues that we should promote agent advocates: user-controlled agents that safeguard individual autonomy and choice. Doing so demands three coordinated moves: broad public access to both compute and capable AI models that are not platform-owned, open interoperability and safety standards, and market regulation that prevents platforms from foreclosing competition.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2505.04345,
  title  = {Build Agent Advocates, Not Platform Agents},
  author = {Sayash Kapoor and Noam Kolt and Seth Lazar},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2505.04345},
  year   = {2025}
}

Comments

Accepted to ICML 2025 position paper track

R2 v1 2026-06-28T23:24:22.794Z