There is a common assumption in the technology discourse that AI infrastructure is simply about training ever-larger language models and deploying them through APIs. This framing misses the far more interesting development happening at the margins: researchers and practitioners building coordination systems that turn individual AI capabilities into persistent, autonomous workflows.
Consider what this actually means. The difference between a tool you consult and a colleague who monitors, acts, and coordinates is not merely one of degree — it is a difference in kind. A tool requires you to formulate the question. A colleague notices when a question needs asking.
The Hayekian Parallel
The best way to understand these emerging systems is through the lens of distributed coordination theory. Hayek's insight about the price system — that it aggregates dispersed local knowledge into signals no central planner could compute — applies directly to multi-agent architectures.
The curious task of economics is to demonstrate to men how little they really know about what they imagine they can design.