Huawei estimates that by the year 2035, there will be 900 billion artificial intelligence agents operating globally. This technological expansion is expected to make these autonomous systems responsible for over 90% of global token traffic, as detailed in the report titled "Intelligent World 2035".
The Chinese corporation emphasizes that such growth will demand a significant increase in computational processing capacity, in addition to implementing new systems designed to ensure that these agents remain safe and under control.
The magnitude of this forecast is notable when compared to human history. Data provided by the Population Reference Bureau indicates that approximately 117 billion individuals have been born on the planet since the emergence of Homo sapiens. The 900 billion agents projected by Huawei represent almost eight times this number of people who have lived in human history. If we consider the current population cited in the material, the projected proportion equates to about 100 agents for every living human.
AI agents have the ability to interpret environmental data, perform reasoning, make decisions, and interact with external tools. This constant operation tends to drive up token consumption, which are the units used by models when receiving and generating information.
Huawei anticipates a strong increase in annual token consumption over the next decade as these systems acquire greater operational autonomy. Despite researchers and AI executives in the United States advocating for moderation in the development of advanced systems due to incidents involving agents and warnings about technologies capable of operating equipment and obtaining resources autonomously, the Huawei report suggests no slowdown. The company maintains expectations of rapid advancement in both the capabilities and adoption of these agents.
For the company, bringing AI into the physical domain is considered fundamental to achieving the long-sought Artificial General Intelligence (AGI). The projected expansion requires major improvements in computational capacity, while security and privacy protection emerge as crucial technologies to accompany the integration of autonomous agents.
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Huawei itself already implements agents in this area; in April, it launched an autonomous operational security platform using agents capable of identifying and reacting to cyber threats. Additionally, the company released proposals for AI-based firewalls focused on safeguarding enterprise systems.
The projection of 900 billion agents illustrates the vast transformation expected by Huawei. To support this growth, the organization points to two primary challenges: expanding computing infrastructure and developing mechanisms that ensure the safety and control of increasingly autonomous systems. The original article was initially published in Olhar Digital.