🧠 Food for thought

Implications, context, and why it matters.

Band aims to rein in unmanaged AI agents

• By 2028, the average Fortune 500 company is expected to use more than 150,000 AI agents, up from fewer than 15 in 2025 1.
• That fast growth can lead to “AI sprawl,” where companies lose track of how agents are used, how they act, and what they cost to run 1.
• This gap helps explain why many AI projects stall. One report found that 95% of AI initiatives never reach production because teams lack the technical base and governance that Band is trying to supply 2.

Band’s funding hints at a more settled AI agent market

• The AI agent market is splitting into clearer layers. It has moved past developer frameworks such as LangGraph and CrewAI, software tools that help teams build and coordinate AI agents 3.
• The field now also includes cloud platforms from Amazon Web Services (AWS) and Google 4, along with no-code builders like Taskade, a tool for creating software workflows without programming 3.
• Band sits in a newer layer built around the “control plane,” a central management system that helps companies oversee, govern, and secure AI agents no matter how they were built. Competitors like Kore.ai, an enterprise AI software company, are chasing the same opening 1.
• Together, these shifts suggest the market is moving away from bigger models alone and toward better coordination, where companies gain value by managing large groups of AI agents in a secure and efficient way 2.