Baidu Proposes 'Daily Active Agents' as New Metric to Value AI Beyond 1 Trillion-Plus Users

Baidu Inc. founder Robin Li is pushing to redefine how investors measure the multi-trillion-dollar AI industry, proposing a shift away from counting human users to tracking the economic activity of autonomous software agents.

"The measure of the AI era may be 'Daily Active Agents' (DAA), corresponding to the most common measure of the mobile internet, 'Daily Active Users' (DAU)," Li said at the Baidu AI Developer Conference in a translated statement on May 13.

The proposal looks to establish a new valuation framework for an industry where software can act as an independent economic participant. While the mobile internet era was defined by metrics like daily and monthly active users (DAU/MAU), Li's proposed "Daily Active Agents" (DAA) would measure the number of non-human programs performing tasks, making decisions, and creating value. This includes everything from simple workflow automation bots to sophisticated "Agentic AI" with its own digital wallets.

If the DAA metric gains traction, it could fundamentally alter the investment thesis for the entire AI sector, shifting focus from companies with the largest user bases to those who command the most extensive and productive armies of autonomous agents. This could reorder the AI leaderboard, creating a new set of winners and losers as the market learns to value automated economic output.

From Users to Agents: A New Valuation Framework

For the past two decades, investors have valued technology platforms on their ability to attract, retain, and monetize human attention. Companies like Meta Platforms Inc. and Alphabet Inc. built empires valued in the trillions of dollars based on their massive user counts, which formed the basis for advertising and service revenue. The key question was always how many people used the service and how much revenue could be extracted per person (ARPU).

Li's proposal suggests this model is insufficient for the AI era. An AI agent is not a passive user; it is a productive, often autonomous, entity capable of executing complex tasks, managing resources, and even transacting financially without direct human intervention. Measuring the scale and activity of these agents could provide a more accurate gauge of an AI platform's true economic power and utility, a departure from simply measuring human engagement.

Corporate America Is Already Deploying Agents

The concept of the AI agent is already moving from theory to practice across different sectors, according to recent corporate earnings calls. These early examples provide a glimpse into what a DAA-centric world might look like.

Radiant Logistics, Inc. (NYSE American: RLGT), a transportation and logistics company, recently launched its first AI-powered agent, 'Ray'. According to a May 11 earnings release, the company is using Ray to "streamline international quote administration" and "automate key workflows." This type of agent, while internally focused, represents a unit of automated productivity that contributes directly to operational efficiency and margin improvement.

The concept extends into the digital asset space as well. TON Strategy Company (NASDAQ: TONX) highlighted its focus on "Agentic AI use cases" in its May 12 earnings call. The company described a future where AI agents operate on the blockchain with their own wallets and smart contract accounts, enabling them to "pay, settle, and interact with services directly." This vision treats agents as first-class economic citizens within a digital ecosystem.

The challenge for investors will be standardizing what qualifies as a "daily active agent." Is it a simple script, a complex workflow automator like Radiant's 'Ray', or a fully autonomous financial entity as envisioned by TON Strategy? The establishment of a clear definition will be a critical first step for DAA to become a trusted metric for valuation. While the metric is still nascent, the proposal from a major industry player like Baidu signals a maturation of the AI sector, pushing investors to look beyond simple user engagement and begin measuring the new world of autonomous economic activity.

This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute investment advice.