The Necessary Friction Conundrum

AI agents are beginning to handle the tasks people hate most: filling out forms, disputing charges, comparing insurance plans, booking appointments, canceling subscriptions, and dealing with customer service.

As these systems improve, much of that friction could disappear. Your agent may spend two hours arguing with an airline, correcting a medical bill, or filing a government claim while you go about your day.

That is an obvious benefit. But friction also tells people when a system is failing.

A cancellation process designed to wear customers down creates anger. A benefits application that takes weeks creates political pressure. A broken insurance process becomes harder to ignore when thousands of people must personally endure it.

If AI quietly handles those problems, the system may remain just as unfair, confusing, or inefficient. People simply feel the damage less.

The Conundrum:

One view is that removing friction is progress. People should not have to waste hours fighting systems that already have more money, staff, and information than they do. AI gives ordinary people help that once required time, expertise, or a lawyer.

The other view is that some friction serves as a warning. When AI makes bad institutions easier to live with, it may also reduce the anger and collective pressure that would have forced them to improve.

When AI agents can shield people from broken systems, should we welcome the relief, even if it allows those systems to remain broken, or do we need people to keep feeling some of the pain so the institutions causing it are forced to change?