Owning a Business Means Owning Its AI Agents

Imagine a family business that’s been operating for fifty years. Its owner has spent a lifetime building it and intends to pass it down to their children. Now imagine that much of the work once handled by employees is being done by AI agents, using software the business doesn’t actually own.

That was the concern Pete Winn raised during the discussion. As businesses increasingly rely on agents to manage their day-to-day operations, the question of who owns those agents becomes important. If they’re controlled by an outside provider, the business could find itself dependent on technology it has little say over, including how it operates or what it costs.

The business might still own its premises, equipment and customer relationships, but if someone else controls the software doing much of the work, how much independence does the owner really have? For Pete, ensuring businesses own their software and agents is becoming an important part of preserving what they’ve built.