If computing power is the blood of AI, then smart contracts will be the soul of AI.
Written by: Anderson Sima, Executive Editor of Foresight News
If there can only be one keyword for 2025, I would choose "AI Agent."
On January 6, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman stated that he is now confident in the methods for building AGI (Artificial General Intelligence) and predicts that by 2025, we may see the first AI agents "join the workforce," significantly changing business output.
I believe this is not alarmism, but a new chapter in AI progress.
The Birth and Evolution of AI Agents
In the past six months, with the rapid development of artificial intelligence and blockchain technology, AI Agents have gradually become a hot sector in the cryptocurrency field. These autonomous entities, developed based on AI technology, can simulate human cognitive and decision-making processes, demonstrating high intelligence and adaptability in perception, analysis, and action. Although current AI Agents are still far from human-level general intelligence, their emergence will redefine the relationship between humans and technology.
Current large models (like ChatGPT) excel in language processing and content generation, but their applications still have significant limitations. The core design of large models is to generate probabilistic optimal solutions based on massive data training, which means they are more like powerful "language engines" that can answer questions and provide suggestions but cannot truly make proactive decisions and execute actions. For example, in complex business management or emergency response scenarios, large models often cannot go beyond the role of "suggestion provider," while AI Agents can quickly formulate and execute plans based on dynamic environments and preset goals.
For instance, in healthcare, large models can recommend potential treatment suggestions based on user-described symptoms. However, in sudden emergency situations, such as cardiac arrest, large models cannot assess the patient's condition based on sensor data and immediately control medical devices to perform CPR like an AI Agent can.
In contrast, the capabilities of AI Agents transcend the scope of existing large models, no longer limited to "data processing," but able to complete a full loop from "perception" to "action." For example, in the field of autonomous driving, AI Agents can analyze road conditions in real-time, integrate traffic rules and vehicle status, decide on the best driving route, and dynamically adjust driving strategies; in finance, AI Agents can track global market information in real-time and dynamically adjust investment portfolios to maximize returns.
The Code of Conduct for AI Agents: Smart Contracts
When AI Agents truly enter the aforementioned scenarios, they should be referred to as "AI Beings," a new species created by "Human Beings," with computing power providing the energy for their actions. So the question arises: how should the code of conduct for such powerful entities be defined? My answer is "smart contracts."
As a carrier of cryptocurrency, the essence of smart contracts is a contract expressed in code form. It achieves the following characteristics through blockchain technology:
Decentralization: Free from the constraints of traditional institutions.
Immutability: Ensures the authenticity of transactions and records.
Traceability: Provides transparent information flow for all participants.
Unlike traditional contracts, the execution of smart contracts does not require intermediaries, relying solely on the rules preset in the code. This not only enhances efficiency but also greatly reduces the possibility of human intervention and potential loss of control.
If computing power is the blood of AI, then smart contracts will be the soul of AI.
AI Agents need to follow established rules and ethical guidelines when performing tasks. The smart contracts of cryptocurrencies provide a natural solution for this. For example, in a decentralized logistics network, AI Agents can automatically schedule transportation and settle costs based on blockchain records, ensuring resource allocation and transaction transparency.
Imagine a decentralized education platform centered around cryptocurrency. AI Agents can help students develop personalized learning plans and intelligently allocate cryptocurrency rewards based on learning outcomes, encouraging continuous learning. Students' grades, learning processes, and reward records are all stored on the blockchain, avoiding biases and human interference present in traditional education systems.
Another major appeal of the combination of AI Agents and Crypto lies in its perfect integration of game theory.
Game theory is essentially the science of decision-making, studying the strategic choices and equilibria of parties in interest games. The cryptocurrency ecosystem is the best stage for the application of game theory. The interactions between miners, investors, and developers are essentially a multi-party game, while blockchain protocols guide the behavior of all parties through mechanism design. For example, in the Bitcoin network, miners compete for computing power to earn rewards, while protocol rules ensure the security and decentralization of the network.
The combination of AI Agents and Crypto can further enhance their decision-making capabilities and collaborative efficiency. For instance, in future smart cities, AI Agents may be widely used in resource allocation, traffic management, and other areas. Through cryptocurrency incentive mechanisms and game models, AI Agents can find optimal solutions among different objectives:
In energy management, AI Agents can negotiate the priorities of energy use and cost allocation to ensure supply and demand balance.
In international trade, AI Agents can complete real-time settlements based on cryptocurrency and smart contracts, avoiding delays and high fees of traditional banking systems.
Suppose a complex AI Agent system called "Jarvis" emerges in the future. As a "digital assistant," it can coordinate multi-level cooperation among individuals, businesses, and governments. The operation of "Jarvis" is based on a transparent and dynamically adjusted cryptocurrency system, where users can earn rewards by contributing data or services, and "Jarvis" can also use cryptocurrency to purchase necessary resources, thus achieving a closed-loop economy.
The rise of AI Agents and the popularity of cryptocurrency will jointly promote the arrival of a new collaborative era:
Collaboration between humans and AI: AI Agents become intelligent assistants for individuals and businesses, taking on tedious tasks and allowing humans to focus on creative work.
Collaboration among people: Cryptocurrency ensures fairness and transparency in cooperation, encouraging more people to participate.
Collaboration among AIs: AI Agents share resources and exchange knowledge through cryptocurrency, achieving more efficient collaboration.
Potential Risks of AI Agent + Crypto
On one hand, while the combination of cryptocurrency and AI Agents is theoretically feasible, technical implementation still faces many challenges. For example:
Security Issues: Although blockchain technology promotes decentralization and immutability, the existence of vulnerabilities in smart contracts can be maliciously exploited, leading to financial losses or system failures.
Scalability Issues: Current mainstream blockchains (like Ethereum) have limited performance in handling large-scale transactions and executing smart contracts, which may become a bottleneck for the widespread application of AI Agents.
On the other hand, once the behavioral rules of AI Agents are solidified through cryptocurrency smart contracts, they may lack flexibility and struggle to address complex ethical issues. For example:
Liability Issues: If an AI Agent causes losses due to the execution of a smart contract, should the liability fall on the developer of the AI Agent, the designer of the smart contract, or the user?
Privacy Issues: AI Agents need to process large amounts of data in real-time, and how this data is stored, used, and shared may raise serious privacy concerns.
Moreover, the introduction of cryptocurrency may exacerbate the differentiation of the economic system. Once AI Agents are combined with cryptocurrency, the party with a technological advantage may further consolidate its dominant position in economic activities. Individuals and small businesses excluded from the wave of AI technology and cryptocurrency may be marginalized due to their inability to bear technological costs, thus exacerbating social inequality.
The combination of AI Agents and cryptocurrency is a nascent form of a technological revolution. Its potential lies in enhancing efficiency and fairness through regulated and automated means, driving a transformation in collaborative models. However, this technological combination is not a panacea; its complexity and risks require us to remain cautious in technological development and social application. On one hand, we should actively explore its value; on the other hand, we must be vigilant about the inequalities and uncertainties that technology may bring.
免责声明：本文章仅代表作者个人观点，不代表本平台的立场和观点。本文章仅供信息分享，不构成对任何人的任何投资建议。用户与作者之间的任何争议，与本平台无关。如网页中刊载的文章或图片涉及侵权，请提供相关的权利证明和身份证明发送邮件到support@aicoin.com，本平台相关工作人员将会进行核查。
