Temporal CEO on AI Agents & The Future of Software | Deep Dives with a16z

Durable Execution provides a robust framework for managing state in complex, distributed applications by abstracting infrastructure failures and ensuring code executes exactly once. Originally developed as Cadence at Uber to address the challenges of microservice orchestration, this technology now serves as a critical foundation for modern AI agentic workflows. By treating agentic loops as durable, long-running processes, the platform enables reliable, asynchronous execution and full auditability through event sourcing. As developers shift toward multi-agent systems and specialized agents, the need for a reliable execution authority becomes paramount to handle spikes, failures, and long-duration transactions. Temporal addresses these requirements by providing a scalable, fault-tolerant layer that allows enterprises to maintain system integrity while navigating the rapid evolution of agentic applications and the increasing demand for high-throughput, mission-critical business processes.