The Download: AI agents hype, and Google's electricity plans

At Google's I/O 2025 event in May, the company showed off a digital assistant that didn't just answer questions; it helped work on a bicycle repair by finding a matching user manual, locating a YouTube tutorial, and even calling a local store to ask about a part, all with minimal human nudging. Such capabilities could soon extend far outside the Google ecosystem. The vision is exciting: Intelligent software agents that act like digital coworkers, booking your flights, rescheduling meetings, filing expenses, and talking to each other behind the scenes to get things done. But if we're not careful, we're going to derail the whole idea before it has a chance to deliver real benefits. And when expectations get out of hand, a backlash isn't far behind.