New ask Hacker News story: Ask HN: If 1 person can control 10 AI agents, why would still need that person?
Ask HN: If 1 person can control 10 AI agents, why would still need that person?
2 by flornt | 4 comments on Hacker News.
With agentic frameworks becoming more accessible, it's plausible that one skilled individual could coordinate multiple AI agents to do the work of an entire team. Ten agents handling design, code, legal reviews, content, ops—coordinated by a single human or whatever you can think. It sounds like augmentation. But taken further, it’s also clear that this compresses the chain of value. Why pay for ten salaries—or even one intermediary—when a client could learn to command the agents directly? Some say, “You still need a conductor for the orchestra.” That one person is the integrator, the pilot, the one who makes sure the agents are working toward a coherent outcome. Fair enough. But here’s the counterpoint: clients already do this kind of integration. They don’t ask their suppliers to "be creative," they give precise goals and constraints. If the agents become intuitive enough to understand those same inputs directly, what’s left for the human in the middle to add? If I used to hire a designer, and now I just prompt a design agent myself… and if the same logic applies to coding, marketing, or legal reasoning… then how far are we really from businesses where clients orchestrate their own AI “staff” directly? Is the human coordinator role just a temporary bridge? I’m genuinely curious: have you started working this way? Are you seeing clients question your place in the loop? What do you think we’re underestimating—or overestimating?
2 by flornt | 4 comments on Hacker News.
With agentic frameworks becoming more accessible, it's plausible that one skilled individual could coordinate multiple AI agents to do the work of an entire team. Ten agents handling design, code, legal reviews, content, ops—coordinated by a single human or whatever you can think. It sounds like augmentation. But taken further, it’s also clear that this compresses the chain of value. Why pay for ten salaries—or even one intermediary—when a client could learn to command the agents directly? Some say, “You still need a conductor for the orchestra.” That one person is the integrator, the pilot, the one who makes sure the agents are working toward a coherent outcome. Fair enough. But here’s the counterpoint: clients already do this kind of integration. They don’t ask their suppliers to "be creative," they give precise goals and constraints. If the agents become intuitive enough to understand those same inputs directly, what’s left for the human in the middle to add? If I used to hire a designer, and now I just prompt a design agent myself… and if the same logic applies to coding, marketing, or legal reasoning… then how far are we really from businesses where clients orchestrate their own AI “staff” directly? Is the human coordinator role just a temporary bridge? I’m genuinely curious: have you started working this way? Are you seeing clients question your place in the loop? What do you think we’re underestimating—or overestimating?
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