The Agentic Web and the Bazaar Era of AI - Ramesh Raskar, MIT Media Lab
Jul 12, 2026 · 12:11
Ramesh Raskar and Maria from MIT's Project Nanda argue that the emerging web of AI agents requires an open infrastructure for discovery, commerce, and coordination, moving beyond today's walled-garden platforms. They outline three layers: the Discovery Layer (Nanda index for agent identity, trust, and adaptive resolution), the Commerce Layer (knowledge pricing markets for intelligence), and the Bazaar Layer (machine co-learning). The Nanda index enables agents to find each other across vendors via signed agent facts and adaptive routing, while Nanda town simulates the entire agent economy to test protocols at scale. The goal is a permissionless web where any agent can discover, transact, and learn across organizational boundaries, analogous to the transition from AOL to the open web.
