Why the World Needs the Agentic AI Foundation with Manik Surtani

Why the World Needs the Agentic AI Foundation with Manik Surtani

From The Business of Open Source by Emily Omier

June 8, 2026 · 34 min · Episode 270

About this episode

Emily Omier interviews Manik Surtani about the importance of the Agentic AI Foundation and its role in the open source and AI landscape.

In this episode of The Business of Open Source, I spoke with Manik Surtani , one of the co-founders of the Agentic AI Foundation and the CTO at the foundation. This is part of the series I’m working on about open source and AI, which started last week with a conversation with Glauber Costa about how AI killed a bug bounty program. Manik talks about how the foundation came into existence, why it’s important to have a foundation that’s specific to agentic AI and what it means, in terms of everyday activities, to be the CTO of an open source foundation. Given how fast everything is moving in the AI space, and specifically around what open source actually means, how we define what is and is not open source, where we can get data and who is able to have data that is open enough to be considered open source. And if we want to mitigate the environmental impact of AI, is the solution really to insist on fewer cat videos? However, if you like this show and want more content about the intersection of open source, AI and bottom lines, you should consider sponsoring! Reach out if you’re interested.

People in this episode

Host: Emily Omier

Guest: Manik Surtani

Topics covered

  • open source
  • AI
  • technology
  • environmental impact
  • entrepreneurship

Keywords

  • Agentic AI Foundation
  • open source
  • AI
  • environmental impact
  • CTO
  • data

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Agentic AI Foundation

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