According to MIT Technology Review, the adoption of autonomous AI agents is set to surge by 300% over the next two years. These aren't simple chatbots — they coordinate complex tasks, interact with dozens of tools, and make decisions without human oversight. US and Chinese companies are already rolling them out. In Europe? Still debating regulations. In Italy? Most SMEs don't even know what an AI agent is.
Here's why it matters. The difference between using an AI agent and building it is the same as renting a shop vs owning the building. We, at Meteora Web, see it daily with our clients: those who own their digital stack (site, CRM, automations) have higher margins and aren't locked into lifetime fees. The same applies to AI agents. If an Italian company adopts a proprietary agent built on a European platform, they can customize it, integrate it with their ERP, keep their data. If they buy a subscription to a US agent, the data goes to American servers, the logic is opaque, and every modification costs extra.
Our position is clear: Europe must build, not just regulate
We're not against regulation — the EU AI Act is necessary — but it's not enough. Regulating without investing in production is like writing traffic laws without building roads. Italy has a wealth of technical talent (software engineers, sysadmins) and a dense network of SMEs that could greatly benefit from tailor-made AI agents for specific industries: fashion, mechanics, agrifood. But we need real incentives, not bureaucratic calls that close in six months. We need genuine training pathways (not 20-hour online courses) and, above all, an industrial strategy that says: “we want our companies to produce AI, not just use it.” As an engineer who also worked as an accountant, I can tell you: the cost of not doing is far higher than the cost of doing.
And security? An AI agent with access to company databases, emails, invoices — if managed by an external provider without checks, it's a ticking bomb. We see it already in current systems: servers with weak passwords, no backups, unprotected forms. Add an autonomous agent, and the risk explodes. Digital sovereignty isn't an abstract concept: it's the difference between controlling your data and giving it away.
What to do? If you're a developer or entrepreneur, start studying how AI agents work — not just to use them, but to build them. At Meteora Web, we've already begun integrating agents into our proprietary platforms (Laravel/Livewire) to automate accounting and inventory processes — exactly where an agent boosts margins, not just likes. If you're a policymaker: stop looking only at Brussels. Ask universities, SMEs, and digital professionals what they really need. And if you're an Italian SME: don't wait for your German or French competitor to get ahead. 2026 is the year to act. Not two years from now.
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