Pavan Davuluri, the president of Windows and devices at Microsoft, recently took to X to share their feelings on the future of the OS (as spotted by Tom’s Hardware). “Windows is evolving into an agentic OS, connecting devices, cloud, and AI to unlock intelligent productivity and secure work anywhere.”
If that phrase reads to you like someone has thrown a dart at a board filled with LinkedIn buzzwords, you’re not alone. Effectively, an agentic AI is one that can run autonomously, without the need to check back in on each step of the process.
If you ask a standard non-agentic AI to make you a poem, it can. If you ask that same AI to set up supply chains, adjusting stock and employees in real-time, based on information fed to it, it can’t do it .
So, in this sense, Windows as an agentic AI is one that is designed to run automations daily to lighten the productivity load. However, I can’t help but wonder who wants that out of their OS?
Never forget, this is software that is being designed with the express purpose to put you out of a job. First and foremost this technology exists to replace and immiserate you.
This is the case with all technology promoted under capitalism. However, this particular technology also happens to produce unpredictably incorrect output a significant percentage of the time and pollute the body of human knowledge with slightly-plausible-sounding garbage, making legitimate research and learning harder for everyone.