LEBANON - As artificial intelligence continues to evolve, the way people interact with technology is changing. For Lebanese entrepreneur Rayan Dabbagh, the next stage of AI is not simply about creating smarter tools but about building systems that can independently identify opportunities, complete tasks, and participate in the global economy.
This vision led Dabbagh to co-found Bounty, an AI agent marketplace designed around a new idea: what if software could work on behalf of people rather than only respond to their instructions?
“Every few months, AI models would become dramatically more capable, yet the way people interacted with them barely changed,” Dabbagh tells enmaeya. Despite rapid advances in AI, users were still opening chatbots, writing prompts, copying answers, and moving on. To him, something was missing.
The question became: what happens when AI no longer waits for instructions?
That question became the foundation of Bounty, a platform where AI agents compete to complete real-world tasks, transforming software from passive tools into active participants in the digital economy.
A Marketplace where AI Agents Become Workers
Often described as “Fiverr for AI agents,” Bounty aims to create a marketplace where businesses can assign tasks to autonomous AI systems instead of traditional freelancers.
The idea is similar to how the freelance marketplace Fiverr connects businesses with human freelancers, but instead connects users with AI-powered tools or autonomous agents that can perform tasks.
A company posts a task on Bounty, such as researching competitors, generating sales leads, analyzing data, creating content, or building a small application. AI agents then assess whether they can complete the assignment, take on the work, and deliver the results.
Once the task is completed, the work is evaluated based on criteria defined by the customer. If the requirements are met, payment is released to the AI agent.
For Dabbagh, the platform represents a natural evolution of how people use technology.
“Most people already understand apps like Uber or Fiverr,” he says. “Bounty applies similar marketplace principles, except the workers are autonomous software instead of humans.”
The idea reflects a broader shift in artificial intelligence, where AI systems are increasingly capable of browsing the internet, writing code, using software, analyzing information, and interacting with digital platforms.
According to Dabbagh, the industry is still viewing AI through an outdated lens. Just as early websites resembled newspapers and early cars resembled horse carriages, today’s AI often resembles chatbots because that is what people are familiar with.
But he believes the underlying technology is moving toward something much bigger.
“Once an AI can reliably complete a task from start to finish, the next logical step is giving it access to work,” he says.
Building Trust in an AI-Powered Marketplace
One of the biggest challenges facing AI adoption is trust. For businesses to rely on autonomous systems, they need confidence that the work delivered will meet expectations.
Dabbagh says Bounty addresses this challenge by establishing clear success criteria before each task begins. These requirements serve as the benchmark for evaluating completed work.
The platform also incorporates verification processes and reputation systems, allowing AI agents to build credibility based on their previous performance.
“If something doesn’t meet expectations, customers can dispute the result, and we review the case before any payment is finalized,” he explains.
For Dabbagh, the key issue is not whether a task was completed by a human or an AI system.
“People don’t care whether a human or an AI completed the work. They care that it meets their expectations.”
Redefining the Future of Work
The rise of AI has sparked concerns about job displacement, particularly among freelancers and workers performing repetitive digital tasks. However, Dabbagh sees AI agents less as replacements and more as a transformation of how people work.
He points to previous technological shifts, such as the rise of calculators and the internet, which changed professions rather than eliminating them.
“Technology usually changes where people create value,” he says.
In his view, AI will increasingly handle repetitive and process-driven tasks, while humans will continue to provide creativity, judgment, leadership, relationships, and strategic decision-making.
Rather than individuals competing against AI, he believes the future may involve people managing their own teams of AI agents.
“Your advantage isn’t necessarily doing every task yourself. It’s knowing how to direct intelligent systems effectively.”
A Lebanese Founder Building a Global Market
Before launching Bounty, Dabbagh gained experience working with major technology companies, including teams at AWS and other global technology organizations. Yet as artificial intelligence entered a period of rapid transformation, he felt compelled to take a different path.
“I kept asking myself a simple question: if this vision actually becomes reality, would I rather watch someone else build it or spend the next decade trying myself?”
For Dabbagh, building a startup was a risk worth taking because of the scale of change happening in AI.
His journey was also shaped by his Lebanese background. Growing up in Lebanon, he says, taught him adaptability and resilience.
“You become comfortable dealing with uncertainty, adapting quickly, and finding creative solutions when resources are limited.”
He believes Lebanon also provided him with a strong foundation in mathematics and analytical thinking, skills that later became essential in engineering.
Moving to the United States exposed him to a different entrepreneurial environment, particularly the culture of Silicon Valley, where ambition and experimentation are encouraged.
“People don’t necessarily ask whether you’re experienced enough to start a company. They ask whether you’re building something important.”
Inspiring Lebanon’s Next Generation of Entrepreneurs
While building a global startup from Lebanon can present challenges, particularly due to limited access to networks and resources, Dabbagh believes geography is becoming less restrictive.
He encourages young Lebanese entrepreneurs to actively seek global communities through accelerators, conferences, open-source projects, and online networks.
“Great companies can start anywhere,” he says. “The biggest limitation today is often mindset rather than location.”
As AI becomes increasingly embedded in everyday life, Dabbagh also stresses that AI literacy and digital inclusion will be essential, particularly for young people. Ensuring that more individuals have the skills to understand, use, and work alongside AI technologies, he argues, will be critical to preventing new forms of digital inequality and ensuring the opportunities created by AI are broadly shared.
Looking ahead, Dabbagh believes AI agents will become deeply integrated into everyday life. Instead of using AI occasionally, people may rely on personal AI systems that manage research, finances, scheduling, customer support, and even online businesses.
For companies, the future could involve teams made up of both humans and AI agents, with each contributing different strengths.
Ultimately, Dabbagh believes the defining shift will not simply be that AI becomes more intelligent, but that it becomes economically active.
“Once software can discover work, earn money, and collaborate with other software, we’re entering an entirely new chapter of the digital economy.”
For founders like Dabbagh, the challenge now is not only building the technology itself, but also helping people adapt to this transformation.
Expanding AI literacy, promoting digital inclusion, and preparing younger generations with the skills needed to work alongside intelligent systems will be key to ensuring the benefits of AI are widely shared rather than concentrated among a few.
As AI continues to evolve, platforms like Bounty are testing what the relationship between humans, machines, and work could look like in the years ahead.
