The Stack Overflow Podcast

“AI has been the wild west”: Creating standards for agents with Sean Falconer

10 snips
Jul 22, 2025
Sean Falconer, an AI entrepreneur in residence at Confluent and co-host of Software Engineering Daily, dives into the chaotic world of AI standards. He discusses how structured protocols are crucial for AI systems to communicate effectively, much like early web standards. The conversation highlights the challenges of establishing these standards without stifling innovation. Falconer also shares insights on testing large language models, emphasizing the need for clarity in prompts and understanding AI limitations to enhance reliability in enterprise applications.
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INSIGHT

Standards Signal AI Maturity

  • Standards mark technology maturity and move AI from experimentation to production use.
  • Like HTTP unified web communication, AI standards unify agent-tool and agent-agent interactions.
INSIGHT

Early Fragmentation Fosters Innovation

  • Early fragmentation in AI standards fosters innovation before selecting the right universal protocols.
  • Adoption and ecosystem support outweigh technical superiority in standards success.
INSIGHT

Different Standards Solve Different Needs

  • MCP standardizes agent tool integration for enterprises to reduce bespoke API work.
  • Agent-to-agent communication standard tackles future challenges of inter-agent ecosystems.
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