Aaron Levie Predicts 10x Increase in Work Output and 100x More AI Agents in Enterprise

Aaron Levie, CEO and co-founder of Box, recently highlighted a paradigm shift in the future of work driven by AI agents. He posits that the low effort and minimal cost associated with initiating and iterating tasks using AI will fundamentally alter business operations, leading to a significant increase in output and exploration of ideas. This shift is expected to unlock new levels of productivity across various industries.

Levie explained that traditional business models are designed to "hyper optimize scarce resources," often leading to the avoidance of new ideas due to high costs and uncertain payoffs. However, AI agents eliminate these constraints. > "The thing that’s deeply underappreciated about how AI agents will affect the future of work is that we can now try any idea because it takes no effort to start the task, and there’s almost no cost to trying again and again if you don’t like the output," Levie stated in his tweet.

This new dynamic allows for extensive exploration of solution spaces, transforming fields from product development to scientific research. > "Now, when you’re building a product, it’s just a completely different experience to have AI agents go off and build many different versions of an idea and see which path you like better," he noted, adding that this will lead to "far better ideation." The same principle applies to marketing campaigns and complex scientific inquiries, where agents can explore numerous paths previously deemed too costly or difficult to justify.

The proliferation of AI agents will also necessitate a dramatic change in enterprise software business models, moving away from traditional "per-seat" licensing. Speaking at TechCrunch Disrupt 2025, Levie projected a future with "100 times more, maybe 1,000 times more, agents than we have people," according to TechCrunch. This will drive a shift towards consumption and volume-oriented use cases for AI agents, creating new market opportunities.

Levie views this as a "complete platform shift" in technology, opening doors for new companies to emerge. Box, under Levie's leadership, is integrating AI agents by layering them onto its existing content management infrastructure. The company focuses on augmenting workflows, such as document summarization and data extraction, while avoiding the development of its own foundational models, instead leveraging multiple external AI providers like Gemini, Anthropic, and OpenAI.

While optimistic, Levie acknowledges challenges such as compounding errors in multi-agent systems, the critical importance of search quality, and robust data governance to prevent unauthorized access to sensitive information. He envisions a future where software interoperates seamlessly through agents, though the transition will require careful navigation of new integration patterns and developer practices.