From Copilots to Production Lines: How Industrial Engineers Are Deploying AI Agents at Scale
“We see this as the clearest evidence that AI agent deployment is an operations redesign problem, not a software install — pausing growth for a year to get the process architecture right is exactly the kind of discipline that turns a 90-95% automation rate into a 4x throughput multiplier instead of a 4x error multiplier.”
Kavak automated 90-95% of customer interactions by replacing human-assisted copilot tools with autonomous AI agents — but it required going flat on growth for a full year to rebuild operations around that architecture. The payoff: 4x scale on the other side, across six countries, without proportionally scaling headcount.
From the Source
"Kavak replaced copilot tools with AI agents handling 90 to 95% of customer interactions, and what it took to go flat for a year during the transition before growing four times on the other side."
— From Copilots to Agents: Rebuilding the Company Around AI
Key Takeaways
- 0190-95% of customer interactions now handled by AI agents, not human-assisted copilots
- 02Growth deliberately paused for 1 year to rebuild operations around AI-first architecture
- 034x operational scale achieved post-transition across Mexico, Brazil, Chile, Argentina, and the Middle East
- 04Kavak had to build four underlying businesses (logistics, financing, reconditioning, marketplace) before AI agents could automate the customer layer
- 05Emerging-market complexity — thin infrastructure, fragmented data — forced a full-stack rebuild rather than a bolt-on AI deployment
Read the Source
# From Copilots to Agents: Rebuilding the Company Around AI
### Episode Summary
a16z's Angela Strange and Gabriel Vasquez speak with Carlos García Ottati, founder and CEO of Kavak, about building Latin America's largest online used car marketplace across Mexico, Brazil, Chile, Argentina, and the Middle East. They discuss why building in emerging markets means constructing four businesses underneath your business, how Kavak replaced copilot tools with AI agents handling 90 to 95% of customer interactions, and what it took to go flat for a year during the transition before growing four times on the other side.
### Episode Notes
a16z's Angela Strange and Gabriel Vasquez speak with Carlos García Ottati, founder and CEO of Kavak, about building Latin America's largest online used car marketplace across Mexico, Brazil, Chile, Argentina, and the Middle East. They discuss why building in emerging markets means constructing four businesses underneath your business, how Kavak replaced copilot tools with AI agents handling 90 to 95% of customer interactions, and what it took to go flat for a year during the transition before growing four times on the other side.
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Source
From Copilots to Agents: Rebuilding the Company Around AI
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