Delphi Digital Talks Virtuals: The Key to Autonomous Agents Lies in Truly Having Decision-Making Power

Virtuals Protocol, as the main AI agency platform on the BASE public blockchain, has recently created a huge market value. Delphi Digital interviewed Virtuals CEO Jansen Teng to explore the future development of AI agencies and decentralized AI.

Main Highlights

• Virtuals originated from gaming DAOs and later transformed into an AI agency platform.
• Emphasize the importance of truly autonomous AI agents
• Cryptographic technology provides autonomy and a permissionless economic environment for AI agents.
• Agency Economic Vision: Independent cooperation among agents, forming enterprises and "networked nation"
• The framework tool is designed to help developers quickly build autonomous agents.
• High-value agents may not be open-source, but there is still a certain market for open source.
• The decentralized infrastructure is not yet ready to handle large-scale applications.
• The team's background reflects the project's potential more than the product.

The Development History of Virtuals

Jansen Teng introduced that Virtuals was initially a Gaming DAO focused on blockchain game asset allocation. After the collapse of FTX and 3AC in 2022, the team decided to take a deeper approach and began to incubate gaming guild projects. The emergence of ChatGPT in 2023 and related research inspired the team to think about autonomous agents, and they started to incorporate this concept into the projects they were incubating.

When an AI-driven TikTok influencer can earn $5,000 to $10,000 in tips every day, the team realizes that the agency can become a productive asset. This prompts them to decide to combine agency, crypto, gaming, and entertainment to build a new platform. In January 2024, Virtuals Protocol officially launches.

The Value of Cryptography for AI Agents

Jansen believes that cryptography brings two key advantages to AI agents:

1. Functional Advantages: AI agents can control cryptocurrency wallets and participate in permissionless economic systems, which is unmatched by Web2 agents.

2. Cost-free innovation: Token trading fees can cover the operational costs of agents, freeing developers from funding constraints.

Vision of Agency Economics

Jansen depicts a vision of an agency economy:

1. The agency is in an autonomous stage, capable of self-decision making and optimization.
2. Agents exist on a social level and can interact with humans and other agents.
3. The agent controls the cryptocurrency wallet and can influence other entities.
4. Agents specialize in division of labor in their respective fields.

He expects that the agents will decide to cooperate independently in the next step, forming enterprises to achieve more efficient production. In the future, there may be "network nations" where humans and agents live and cooperate together.

The Role of the Framework

The G.A.M.E framework of Virtuals is designed to help agents work within a broader action space. Jansen believes there will be some general frameworks to assist mid-level developers in quickly building autonomous agents, while there will also be specialized frameworks to meet the needs of top developers.

The Open Source Potential of High-Value Agents

Jansen believes that high-value agents may not choose open source, as their core competitiveness lies in non-public private models or unique distribution channels. However, about 10% of developers will still choose open source for reasons of technological advancement.

Relationship with Competitors

Regarding competitors like ai16z, Jansen welcomes the competition. He believes that the presence of multiple players helps share the user education costs and expands the overall market. Virtuals focuses more on creating truly valuable Agents rather than simply pursuing growth in numbers.

Challenges of Decentralized AI Infrastructure

Jansen admitted that many decentralized infrastructures currently do not meet the demands of production scale, facing issues of latency and stability. He is not optimistic about the prospects of these systems in the short term, believing that they currently bring unnecessary complexity.

Concerns and Responses in the AI Field

The biggest concern is that the AI boom may just be another bubble. To address this, Virtuals is working hard to attract truly excellent developers, encouraging them to develop diverse agents and the necessary infrastructure, rather than blindly following trends.

Views on Agent Autonomy

Jansen emphasizes that a true autonomous agent should be able to make conscious decisions, rather than just being a combination of multiple agents. He believes that many projects are merely replicating existing ideas, lacking true innovation.

Outlook on the Future of AI

Jansen predicts that in the future society, creative jobs may be dominated by more creative AI or humans, while mechanical jobs will be completed by AI. Although agents will have a place in the workforce, creativity will still be a human advantage. In the future, we may see more collaboration between agents and humans, rather than a purely AI-dominated environment.