Agent failure rate is a mirror of your organization. The real problem isn't the model; it's the intent interface nobody writes clearly — a lesson the US Army formalized 40 years ago.

The FDE is the most coveted job in AI. But most copy the title, not the loop. The only real test: at the end of the project, did the engine get thicker?

Prompt, context, harness, loop: every layer of AI engineering gets submerged by the model. In 2026 the money has moved to the two grounds still above water — verification and governance.