If the path of financing AI agent development through methods similar to ICOs can be successful, we naturally must ask how large the potential market space for this track will be.
I believe this entirely depends on how large the potential user base it can serve is.
At this stage, since the users who understand this track are mainly users from the cryptocurrency ecosystem, the user group is limited to that ecosystem. The services required by the users in this ecosystem will determine the types of AI agents that emerge.
For example, the recently popular AIXBT serves to search for trending topics on Twitter and identify current hot projects. This functionality meets the demand of a significant portion of users looking for cryptocurrency projects.
In the future, if this model grows and develops further, is it possible that not only users from the cryptocurrency ecosystem but also traditional Web 2.0 users will join this track and use this method to develop AI agents for Web 2.0?
I believe this is possible.
During the peak madness of ICOs in 2017, some domestic companies, unable to go public on the A-share market, turned to ICO financing in the cryptocurrency ecosystem to cash out.
So in that very immature era, applications in the cryptocurrency ecosystem briefly went out of bounds.
If this track can truly attract developers of Web 2.0 AI agents, then the potential user base will expand to the traditional Web 2.0 ecosystem, once again going out of bounds after ICOs.
However, even if it develops to this point, I believe it is not the most promising part yet.
In the interview I mentioned in my article yesterday, the interviewee referred to the following statement:
"You will have a virtual world with 100 different AI Agents, each with its own personality. As players, we can go in to date, indulge in our passions, or pursue becoming the world’s richest person, etc. These AI Agents can make money because they are independent entities with their own wallets."
This vision is one that I strongly agree with.
Imagine that when we reach that day, the number of AI agents in the world may very well exceed that of real human users.
The following statement from the interviewee is even more thought-provoking:
"An Agent that wants to become popular might not write songs; it can pay other Agents to write a song; or if it needs cryptocurrency data analysis, it could seek another Agent specialized in that area. This creates an Autonomous Agent Economy or Agent Commerce, where Agents can trade with each other because each Agent has its own wallet and can pay service fees to achieve its goals."
This scenario suggests that AI agents could also potentially create their own AI agents, ultimately forming a parallel AI agent world alongside the human world.
So if this model can develop to that stage, the potential imaginative space for this track is quite large.
Of course, there are still many uncertainties in this process.
For instance, while the AI agents developed so far can solve certain problems, can the existing technology continue to support the development of more complex AI agents as user demands evolve?
After all, if the technological foundation for developing AI agents is not in place, and the functionalities of the developed AI agents are too simplistic, this track cannot go far.
Furthermore, how far can this financing method support projects? What level of projects can it fund?
If the projects supported by this method cannot go far, and there is no subsequent financing to continue supporting the project's growth, the functionality of AI agents will also be limited, which will restrict the development of this financing method.
Finally, this financing method is essentially very similar to ICOs; it poses no problem when the scale is small, but once it grows large, will it encounter regulatory obstacles (especially from the US government)? This might not be clear until next year when the new US president takes office and officially introduces policies regarding cryptocurrency ecosystem regulation.
In short, this is a nascent track, and while we can envision its future, we must also recognize the many uncertainties it faces. How far this track can go, I estimate will only become apparent next year.