The agent era needs goal description, not task instructions

manosaie · x · 2026-09-24

The author argues two curves will converge over time:

Model side: agents getting better at understanding meta-level goals over longer horizons — discerning underlying human intent and executing toward it.
Human side: people learning to describe goals instead of tasks. The chatbot era rewarded being literal and prescriptive because we wanted a good response; the agent era rewards compounding outcomes, momentum, and progress, requiring new delegation habits and expectations.

Both are required, and together they unlock a new level of helpfulness for human agency — though the exact path isn't obvious yet.

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