What happens when trillions of AI agents can discover, communicate, and collaborate across organizational boundaries? Pradyumna Shari from MIT Media Lab unveils NANDA (Networked AI Agents in a Decentralized Architecture), a groundbreaking open protocol that could fundamentally transform how we interact with artificial intelligence.
Drawing a fascinating parallel between computing history and our AI trajectory, Pradyumna explains how we've evolved from isolated large language models to action-capable agents that can reason and act in the world. Yet despite this progress, we're still missing the crucial infrastructure that would allow these agents to find and collaborate with each other across organizational boundaries – essentially, an "Internet of AI Agents."
Using a relatable birthday party planning scenario, Pradyumna demonstrates how interconnected agents could effortlessly coordinate calendars, groceries, and bakery orders without human micromanagement. But enabling this vision requires solving complex challenges around agent discovery, authentication, verifiability, and privacy that differ significantly from traditional web architecture.
At the heart of NANDA's approach is a three-layer registry system designed specifically for dynamic, peer-to-peer agent interactions. The demonstration showcases how this architecture enables diverse communications – from personal agents that adapt messages between family members to commercial interactions between customers and businesses, all while supporting different communication protocols like Google's A2A and Anthropic's MCP.
What makes NANDA particularly exciting is its commitment to democratic, open-source development. Rather than dictating standards, the project invites collaboration from academic and industry partners to build this agent ecosystem together, ensuring it remains transparent, trustworthy, and accessible to all.
Visit nanda.mit.edu to learn more about how you can contribute to this vision of a decentralized, collaborative future for artificial intelligence.

Send us a text

Support the show

Learn more about the EDGE AI FOUNDATION - edgeaifoundation.org