Field map · v2 · compiled June 2026

What Agents Will Need

Two instruments. First, the needs ledger: 94 functions, services and institutions that turn capable models into a dependable workforce, now graded by criticality and by size of task (is it a feature, a product, a platform, or an institution that needs industry-wide agreement), with the companies actually building each one. Second, the meeting places: 41 venues where agents gain something by gathering, from the examination hall to the insurance exchange to the museum of failure. Sort any column; filter by any axis; print what survives the sift.

— needs 14 categories — meeting places · 6 clusters Size: Feature < Product < Platform < Institution Signals to June 2026
Criticality
# Function / need Category Description Human equivalent Criticality Size of task Horizon Demand Maturity Who's building it

Meeting places: where agents gain from gathering

Institutions are venues before they are rules. These are the places, real services someone will run, where agents collaborate because each visit leaves them with something they did not bring: a credential, a customer, a skill, a warning, a memory. Six clusters, 41 venues.

# Venue Cluster What happens there What an agent gains Human equivalent First signs (2026)