Building Search for AI Agents with Exa CEO Will Bryk

June 7, 2026

1:05

Building Search for AI Agents with Exa CEO Will Bryk

Imagine trying to find information not just for a human user, but for an AI agent that acts independently — things get complicated fast. Will Bryk, CEO of Exa, explains that traditional search engines weren’t built for this new era where autonomous systems need to access and understand data on their own. According to Bryk, the real shift is that search isn’t just about humans anymore — it's about building infrastructure that powers AI agents to think, code, and make decisions. content+a16zpodcast@a16z.com notes that this means designing retrieval systems that are fast, flexible, and deeply integrated with AI workflows. As Bryk points out, the future of discovery will be less about searching and more about creating a foundational layer — one that makes information accessible to machines that learn and act on their own. So what does this all mean? For busy professionals, it’s a glimpse into a world where search becomes the backbone of the emerging agent economy, shaping how we access data in ways we’ve never seen before.

Sarah Wang speaks with Exa cofounder and CEO Will Bryk about building search infrastructure for the AI era.

The conversation covers Exa’s origins, why traditional search engines were not designed for AI agents, and how search changes when the user is no longer a human but an autonomous system. They discuss retrieval, agent workflows, coding agents, data access, and why search may become a foundational layer for the emerging agent economy.

Along the way, Bryk shares his views on AI-native products, the future of information discovery, and why some of the most important problems in technology can ultimately be framed as search problems.

Resources:

Find Will on X: https://x.com/WilliamBryk

Find Sarah on X: https://x.com/sarahdingwang

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Audio Transcript