Subvolts take Manage AI agents like interns: connect them, but control their actions to prevent costly mistakes. Jun 5, 2026
For you
Developers
Learn about the governance challenges and security considerations when building and deploying AI agents for enterprise use.
Business
Understand the critical gap in trusting AI agents and the scaling issues of managing them, impacting operational efficiency and risk.
Hype note
3/5Notable

This episode offers a practical perspective on a significant emerging challenge for enterprise AI adoption, featuring an expert from a relevant startup.

Every Enterprise Is About to Have a 100,000 Agent Problem | Oren Michaels of Barndoor AI

1 h Interview Hosts: Craig S. Smith
0:0059:52

Audio streams from Craig S. Smith. Your place is remembered on this device.

From Subvolts

Summary and analysis by Subvolts editorial, AI-assisted.

Summary

Oren Michaels of Barndoor AI joins Craig Smith on Eye on AI to discuss the challenge of managing AI agents in enterprises. Michaels explains that while connecting agents to tools is achievable, ensuring they act as intended is difficult. He likens agents to interns, highlighting the large potential for error when they operate across multiple platforms simultaneously. The episode addresses the "100,000 agent problem" and the inadequacy of traditional identity management for AI.

Explained simply

Imagine giving many digital assistants access to your company's tools. This episode explains the difficulty in making sure they do exactly what you want, not just what they can do. It's important because mistakes by these assistants can cause big problems.

Why listen

This episode is for enterprise IT leaders and security professionals grappling with the deployment of AI agents. It highlights a critical gap between agent connectivity and control, a challenge relevant to all frontier labs building agentic capabilities. Listeners will learn about a framework for understanding agent behavior, the scaling issues of agent governance, and why current security systems fall short. This directly addresses the practical hurdles in realizing the full potential of AI in business operations.

On the mic
  • HostCraig S. Smith
  • GuestOren Michaelsco-founder and CEO, Barndoor AI
About
Key facts
  • Guest: Oren Michaels, co-founder and CEO of Barndoor AI
  • Episode Title: Every Enterprise Is About to Have a 100,000 Agent Problem
  • Show: Eye on AI
  • Length: 60 minutes
  • Core Problem: Connecting AI agents to tools is easy; trusting them is hard.
Show notes from Craig S. Smith

AI agents can now connect to every tool your employees use. The problem is that connecting them and trusting them are two completely different things, and most enterprises have figured out the first without solving the second. Oren Michaels, co-founder and CEO of Barndoor AI, joins Craig Smith to explain why that gap is the defining challenge of the agentic enterprise era. His framework is simple and sharp: agents are like enthusiastic interns. They will absolutely do something when you ask them to. Whether it's what you intended is another matter, and when an agent can act across Salesforce, Slack, email, and calendar simultaneously, the blast radius of a misunderstood instruction is far larger than anything a human intern could cause.

The conversation covers the 100,000 agent problem - the reality that each agent handling a discrete task needs its own set of rules about what it's allowed to do, and that number scales to a size no human team can govern manually - and why traditional identity management systems were never built for the failure modes AI agents create. The new threat isn't bad actors getting in; it's authorized people using allowed tools with agents that still do the wrong thing. Barn Door's governance layer sits between the agent and the tools it can access, specifying exactly what each agent is permitted to do in each context, and Venn brings that same capability to individuals who want to understand what's possible before their organizations catch up. This is one of the most practically useful conversations available about what enterprise AI governance actually looks like.

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Jargon decoded
AI agents
Oren Michaels
Digital assistants that can perform tasks and interact with software.
agentic enterprise era
Oren Michaels
A future where businesses heavily rely on AI assistants for operations.
blast radius
Oren Michaels
The potential impact or scope of damage from a mistake or failure.
Published
Show
Eye on AI · Craig S. Smith
Length
1 h
Companies
Microsoft
Summary by
Subvolts, using an AI model (how we work). Spotted a mistake? Tell us.

Questions people ask

What is the "100,000 agent problem"?
It refers to the reality that each AI agent handling a discrete task needs its own set of rules, scaling to a size no human team can manually govern.
What is the main challenge with AI agents in enterprises?
Connecting AI agents to employee tools is one thing, but trusting them to act as intended is another, creating a significant gap in enterprise AI deployment.

Page generated Oct 19, 2026. Summaries are Subvolts' own; the audio, artwork and notes belong to Craig S. Smith.