Open protocols didn't free email users — why federated AI assistants face the same lock-in
sujingshen · x · 2026-10-23
Commenting on The Great Distribution's vision of a "federated matching" world — many AI assistants on open protocols, with identity, reputation, and relationships owned by individuals and portable across services — sujingshen pushes back: email is the counterexample. Decades after the protocol opened, most people still stick with one mailbox; accumulated history plus inertia is enough to lock users in, and switching AI assistants will only be lazier.
The quoted context notes federated models' inherent problems: open protocols need maintainers, spam and fraud are harder to govern, and users bear more management burden — history shows centralization re-emerges even atop open protocols. Leading signals to watch: growth in cross-service transaction migration, rising assistant-switching rates, and broad adoption of open agentic commerce protocols.
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