a16z maps the B2A economy: agents are now the internet's main users, reshaping distribution

a16z Newsletter · rss · 2026-11-11

a16z's newsletter introduces the "B2A (Business-to-Agent) economy": agents now make up the majority of web traffic, write over half of new articles online, and produce most production code. The platform shift lies in agents moving from answering questions to completing purchases on users' behalf.

Key data & arguments:

Shopify Q1'26: AI-driven store traffic grew 8x YoY, AI-search orders 13x; Human Security saw agentic browser traffic grow 8x from August to October (Muse 60%, OpenAI products 30%).
AI-referred traffic converts better with lower bounce rates; 11% of US shopper journeys touch AI before a transactional site.
Browser use dominates today, but connectors/MCPs are becoming an "App Store for agents"; OpenAI launched Businesses in ChatGPT, Claude supports org-wide plugins.
Coding agents are the case study: 40%+ of GitHub PRs start with an agent draft (vs 17% six months prior). Ripple effects: Supabase 60%+ of new DBs from AI, Neon 80% deployed by agents, Stripe 40% of docs traffic and 70% of CLI requests from agents, Vercel agent-triggered deployments up 28x YoY.
Four beneficiary categories: agentic models (ChatGPT at 1.2B WAU), agent-enabled products, incumbents optimizing for agents (beyond GEO), and agent infrastructure (payments/fraud/identity/communications already straining).

First in a series on the agent economy.

Original post →

a16z maps the B2A economy: agents are now the internet's main users, reshaping distribution

More from AGI Musings