this post was submitted on 14 Apr 2026
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407
Microsoft Exec Suggests AI Agents Will Need to Buy Software Licenses - Business Insider (www.businessinsider.com)
submitted 1 day ago by gokayburucdev@lemmy.world to c/technology@lemmy.world
64 comments fedilink hide all child comments
 

Buried in the story was a deceptively simple question: does your AI agent count as an employee?

At a recent conference, Microsoft executive Rajesh Jha floated a provocative idea. In a future where companies deploy fleets of AI agents, those agents may need their own identities — logins, inboxes, and even seats inside software systems. If so, AI wouldn't shrink software revenue. It could expand it.

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[–] muusemuuse@sh.itjust.works 10 points 16 hours ago (2 children)

Then they’ll just make one robot do multiple things. Suddenly the big company only has one taxable employee.

[–] CatAssTrophy@safest.space 5 points 13 hours ago* (last edited 13 hours ago)

Depends. If the tax is based on jobs replaced, not the abstractly defined number of robots that exist, it would have an impact. Also, monolithic solutions tend to be inherently less efficient than similarly developed defined ones, so limiting the robot models for a tax benefit would have another limit on their efficiency.

It's an issue that could be accounted for, if there were sufficient political will. If taxes from automation were committed to public good, there would likely be pretty widespread acceptance.

[–] MashedTech@lemmy.world 3 points 16 hours ago (1 children)

MAKE ONE BIG TAX!

[–] MashedTech@lemmy.world 2 points 16 hours ago (1 children)

Suddenly the company has no taxable robots. The CEO does everything.

[–] muusemuuse@sh.itjust.works 3 points 16 hours ago

Wouldn’t that be a funny bluff.