I'd argue that Signal is trying to sell sanity at their own direct expense, during a time when sanity is in short supply. Just like "Proof of Work" wasn't going to be the BIG THING that made Crypto the new money, the new way to program, 'Agents' are another wet squib. I'm not claiming that they're useless, but they aren't worth the cost within orders of magnitude.

I'm really getting tired of people who insist on living in a future fantasy version of a technology at a time when there's no real significant evidence that their future is going to be realized. In essence this "I'll pay the costs now for the promise of a limitless future" is becoming a way to do terrible things without an awareness of the damage being done.

It's not hard, any "agent" that you need to double check constantly to keep it from doing something profoundly stupid that you would never do, isn't going to fulfill the dream/nightmare of automating your work. It will certainly not be worth the trillions already sunk into its development and the cost of running it.