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Maggie Appleton

What Maggie Appleton thinks about AI agents

@maggie-appleton · 20 positions · On ppll ↗

Designer, anthropologist and illustrator who writes about the web, tools for thought and generative AI on her digital garden at maggieappleton.com. Her 2022 essay "The Dark Forest and Generative AI" put the reverse Turing test -- proving you are not a language model -- into the vocabulary of the independent web.

Maggie Appleton did not write this page.

We collected these quotes from things they published elsewhere, and every quote links to where it was said. They have no account here and have not endorsed this site. Quotes are word for word; the short line under each one is our own restatement, not their wording. Their own site. Is this you? Claim it or ask us to remove it. Or tell us what is wrong here.

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Only Maggie Appleton on AI agents. See everyone on AI agents

5 dated positions, 2026, in their own words. Our reading of what Maggie Appleton has said — not written or endorsed by them.

  1. Our readingInterfaces between humans and agents are too thin, with little translation between what humans see and what agents see.

    Their wordsAnother way to put this is that our interfaces between humans and agents are very thin. There's not a lot of translation between what humans see and what agents see.

    ↗Planning with Agents: Divided Worlds, Boundary Objects, and Thicker Interfacesmaggieappleton.com 1st of 3 in this piece

  3. Our readingIn human-agent interaction the human is the prioritised party, and the agent should do far more labour for the human's benefit.

    Their wordsThe agent is not the prioritised party in this interaction. We are. The agent should be doing far more labour for human benefit.

    ↗Planning with Agents: Divided Worlds, Boundary Objects, and Thicker Interfacesmaggieappleton.com 2nd of 3 in this piece

  5. Our readingA plan handed to an agent should already have made meaningful contact with the important parts of reality.

    Their wordsBy the time we hand the plan over, it should already have made meaningful contact with the important parts of reality.

    ↗Planning with Agents: Divided Worlds, Boundary Objects, and Thicker Interfacesmaggieappleton.com 3rd of 3 in this piece

  6. 4 weeks earlier

  7. Our readingAlways-on AI agents might put a dent in the burden of unpaid household mental labour, the way washing machines and dishwashers did.

    Their wordsI am genuinely hopeful agents might put a dent in this problem, in the same way washing machines and dishwashers did.

    ↗August 2026maggieappleton.com 1st of 2 in this piece

  8. 4 months earlier

  9. Our readingPull requests and issues are the wrong primitives for the speed, shape and volume of agentic software work.

    Their wordsThe PR and the issue are the wrong primitives that can't handle the speed, shape, and volume of agentic work.

    ↗One Developer, Two Dozen Agents, Zero Alignmentmaggieappleton.com 3rd of 3 in this piece