EightX Labs Opens agnt8x, a Platform to Manage AI Agents Like Employees
EightX Labs has launched agnt8x, a platform that treats AI agents as workforce members. The system handles recruitment, onboarding, management and billing across multiple AI providers under a single interface-the first of its kind.
The problem it solves is immediate. Every major AI lab released agents in the past year. Most enterprises now run agents from three or four providers with no unified way to hire, track, audit or pay them.
"There is no Workday for AI agents," said John Shipman, CEO of EightX Labs. The platform sits as a neutral layer above providers, much as Workday sits above payroll systems.
How the Platform Works
agnt8x operates across five functional areas:
- FIND is a job board matching agents to roles based on capabilities.
- FORGE lets companies catalog and onboard their own agents.
- STUDIO is a nine-step onboarding workflow.
- MANAGE provides real-time profit-and-loss per agent, compliance monitoring, full audit trails, and unified billing across providers.
- CONDUCTOR orchestrates multi-agent teams across different providers on a single canvas-a capability competitors haven't built.
The platform also includes a two-sided marketplace. Independent developers can publish agents and earn recurring revenue when enterprises deploy them.
Deployment Options and Open Standards
agnt8x ships in three modes. SaaS serves startups and mid-market firms. Tenant Workspace provides single-tenant deployment for larger enterprises. EMBASSY runs the full platform inside a customer's own VPC with zero access to runtime data-designed for government and systemically important institutions.
The company published the EightX Agent Manifest (EAM) v0.1 under the Apache 2.0 open-source license. The specification allows agents to compile to every major runtime, preventing vendor lock-in to a single provider.
EightX Labs is working with standards bodies on agent identity and settlement protocols. The goal is to align the platform's Passport system with emerging open standards so agents can transact across sectors.
Leadership and Background
David Puth chairs the company. He previously led Centre Consortium and CLS Bank. John Shipman, the founder and CEO, was PwC's first global Digital Assets Leader and held CTO and COO roles at an Australian wealth manager. Co-founder Michael Harte served as Group CIO and COO at three global banks.
For AI for Management professionals, the platform represents a shift in how to structure and oversee distributed AI workforces. Understanding agent recruitment, onboarding and governance-the core functions agnt8x automates-will become essential as companies scale AI operations. AI for Human Resources functions are moving beyond people to include agent management, making these competencies critical for operational leaders.
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