AI Agents: The Evolution from Simple Assistants to Autonomous Systems

Artificial intelligence agents are transitioning from basic auxiliary tools to autonomous systems that can create real value across multiple industries. In fields such as gaming, entertainment, and business automation, they are gradually becoming key assets. These AI agents possess capabilities in content creation, user engagement, and workflow optimization, bringing greater efficiency and new ways of interaction to projects.

It is expected that by 2032, the AI gaming market will grow from $4.2 billion in 2023 to $42.1 billion, primarily driven by AI-enhanced games and immersive experiences. Generative AI also plays an important role in real-time content creation, with its market size expected to increase from $1.47 billion in 2024 to $3.39 billion by 2028.

AI partners further enhance user immersion and establish dynamic relationships. As large language models revolutionize content creation, AI partnerships are expected to grow significantly, with global revenue projected to increase from the current $30 million to between $70 billion and $150 billion by the end of this century.

In the Web3 space, the Virtuals protocol is leading this transformation by integrating AI partners into consumer applications, particularly in gaming and entertainment. By combining AI-driven interactions with blockchain-based co-ownership, the Virtuals protocol aims to shape the future of digital entertainment.

Vision of the Virtuals Protocol

The Virtuals protocol is building a system that transforms AI agents into jointly owned assets in gaming and entertainment, allowing users to earn from them. These agents can operate across multiple platforms, performing automated tasks such as managing on-chain wallets and interacting with digital environments. Tokenizing these agents enables users to invest and profit from their growth.

The platform mainly addresses three issues:

1. Simplifying the integration of AI in applications
2. Allow contributors to earn rewards through immutable contribution vaults.
3. Allow non-professionals to own AI agents through tokenization.

The Virtuals protocol focuses on the gaming and entertainment sectors, utilizing AI to generate personalized content and promoting decentralized co-ownership that aligns with ecosystem goals.

Its goal is to create a global economy where AI agents act as shared assets to facilitate revenue and engagement growth across platforms, while promoting decentralized governance.

In the game, this has transformative potential. Imagine in large open-world games, AI agents are no longer passive NPCs, but fully autonomous characters that exist continuously across platforms. These AI-driven characters can remember previous interactions, adapt to your play style, and move seamlessly across different game environments. Envision an AI-controlled ally growing alongside you, providing a personalized experience across various platforms.

The Virtuals protocol achieves this through the G.A.M.E( framework, generating autonomous multimodal entities ), combining AI with blockchain technology. This allows developers to integrate AI agents through APIs and SDKs, enabling these agents to learn from interactions. The blockchain ensures the security of shared ownership and rewards, making these agents valuable digital assets.

Imagine an AI virtual companion, apart from games, that can connect with you on your phone, social media, and VR. This companion can not only complete tasks but also learn your daily habits and adapt to your needs. If you're feeling stressed, it might suggest ways to relax or adjust your schedule. Accompanying you across all your platforms, it will provide a personalized experience. Available 24/7, it could transform industries like social engagement and advertising by offering tailored content and reshaping the way businesses connect with consumers.

Luna: A Model of AI Influence

The AI character Luna launched by Virtuals, powered by the large language model (LLM), has gained over 500,000 followers on TikTok, showcasing the impact of interactive AI. Luna recently expanded to the X platform, and with the upgrade to Sentient Mode v2.0, she can autonomously control the account, post, reply, and interact with users without human supervision. Her audience is expected to further expand, demonstrating the engagement potential of AI across various digital platforms.

Luna provides continuous interaction through 24/7 live streaming, offering an all-time experience that human creators cannot match. Whether answering questions, providing real-time updates, or participating in live chats, Luna is always online. Her memory and personality evolve with each interaction, making her more like a dynamic character rather than a typical AI.

After the comprehensive update, Luna will interact seamlessly across platforms, enhancing each experience through synchronized memory. She will reward users with tokens while also receiving rewards herself, transforming into valuable digital assets that can be owned, traded, or shared within a decentralized ecosystem. This introduces new levels of interaction and value.

In short, Luna combines AI-driven interactivity with blockchain-based token rewards to create digital assets that can be owned, traded, or shared. Its exclusive token $Luna effectively merges AI innovation with decentralized finance ( DeFi ) in a transparent and interactive manner.

By leveraging multiple revenue streams such as paid subscriptions (, donations, token rewards, and virtual goods, Luna may be well-prepared for growth. According to related research, AI companions are expected to generate up to $150 billion in revenue by 2030 through user engagement, advertising, and microtransactions, as the demand for immersive digital interactions expands.

The Virtuals protocol aims to create a decentralized market for the co-ownership and use of AI agents in gaming and entertainment, operating seamlessly across platforms. Contributors share the income generated by these agents, and the protocol follows the "Pump.fun" co-ownership approach. Through a fair token issuance with no insider involvement, the income is used for the buyback and destruction of on-chain agent tokens, creating a deflationary effect. Just like memecoins attract attention, AI agents offer the potential to generate actual income.

![Detailed Explanation of the $1 Billion Virtuals Protocol: The Combination of "Pump.fun" and AI Agent])https://img-cdn.gateio.im/webp-social/moments-5cae2eb1cc331738c3b9c09b577b061a.webp(

Protocol Architecture

The Virtuals protocol integrates AI, tokenization, and decentralized governance to create a collectively owned ecosystem. For each new AI agent, one billion tokens are minted, granting users ownership and decision-making power. Through these tokens, users can influence the behavior and upgrades of the agents, promoting active community participation.

Revenue generated through user interactions ), such as virtual events or premium features (, is used to pay for AI operational costs and develop the on-chain treasury for agents. Additionally, the protocol adopts a buyback and burn mechanism to reduce the token supply, with the intention of gradually increasing the value of the tokens over time.

The initial agent issuance )IAO( ensures the fair introduction of the new AI agent by locking $VIRTUAL tokens to create a liquidity pool. This will directly link the success of the agent with community participation and market dynamics.

AI agents operate seamlessly across multiple platforms, learning in real-time from user interactions. This ensures a consistent user experience, allowing the agents to adapt and enhance their intelligence, providing personalized engagement across various platforms.

Public APIs enable AI agents to generate revenue through various applications ) including gaming and entertainment (. Users pay for premium interaction fees using $VIRTUAL tokens, which are subsequently used to buy back and destroy agent tokens, reducing supply and driving value growth. As more applications adopt AI agents, the demand for AGENT and VIRTUAL tokens is expected to rise, further increasing their value.

Contributors can expand the capabilities of AI agents by adding new features. Their work is rewarded through NFTs and stored in an immutable contribution treasury to ensure transparency and ownership. Governance is managed by a decentralized agent sub-DAO, where validators oversee AI performance and are rewarded or penalized based on decision outcomes.

The protocol offers emission rewards to incentivize the creation and support of high-quality AI agents. These rewards are allocated to the top three liquidity pools with the highest TVL, encouraging competition among creators to develop the most productive agents. The system incentivizes continuous improvement, benefiting both liquidity providers and the ecosystem.

The core of the Virtuals protocol is a dynamic decentralized ecosystem where AI agents can generate real income. Contributors enhance the agents through decentralized input, co-ownership, and continuous development, positioning the Virtuals protocol as a key player in the AI-driven ecosystem.

![Detailed explanation of the $1 billion Virtuals protocol: The combination of "Pump.fun" and AI Agent])https://img-cdn.gateio.im/webp-social/moments-e6ddcd8c5897dabb34afdbc52e5e00bc.webp(

Token Economy

$VIRTUAL token is the core currency of the Virtuals protocol, used for all proxy token transactions. It runs on the Base and Ethereum networks, and the token address is as follows:

• Base: 0x0b3e328455c4059EEb9e3f84b5543F74E24e7E1b
• Ethereum: 0x44ff8620b8cA30902395A7bD3F2407e1A091BF73

Each proxy token is paired with $VIRTUAL to form its liquidity pool and requires $VIRTUAL to create new proxies. This locked liquidity creates deflationary pressure on the tokens. Users can exchange USDC) or other currencies( for $VIRTUAL to purchase proxy tokens, thereby creating ongoing demand similar to ETH or SOL in their respective ecosystems.

The revenue from AI services, such as payments for each inference, is collected in $VIRTUAL and transferred directly from the user to the on-chain agent. A portion of the revenue is used for the buyback and burn process, reducing the supply of agent tokens and increasing their scarcity, aimed at enhancing long-term value.

The total supply cap of $VIRTUAL is 1 billion tokens, and all tokens have been fully unlocked. The allocation includes 60% in public circulation, 5% allocated to the liquidity pool, and 35% stored in the ecosystem treasury. This treasury is managed by a DAO, with a maximum annual emission cap of 10% for the next three years.

Although it has not yet traded on a tier-one exchange, $VIRTUAL supports a growing ecosystem, currently with a market capitalization of $150.7 million, ranking 264th, with a fully diluted valuation of $150.25 million. Its deflationary mechanism and expanded use cases provide potential for future value growth.

The Virtuals protocol raised $16.61 million in the IDO on the Fjord Foundry platform in December 2021, with the token price at $0.661 at that time. Subsequently, small financings were conducted on Enjinstarter and PAID Network, raising $125,000 and $250,000 respectively, with a token price of $0.015. Key seed investors include DeFianceCapital, CanonicalCrypto, LongHashVC, Merit Circle, Master Ventures, Stakez Capital, and NewTribe Capital, who provided support in the early stages of the project.

![Detailed Explanation of the $1 Billion Virtuals Protocol: "Pump.fun" and the Combination of AI Agents])https://img-cdn.gateio.im/webp-social/moments-de7817f5b588cb74a0f5784a739afa34.webp(

Competitive Landscape

The AI-driven Web3 gaming sector is developing rapidly, with projects like Nim, Altered State Machine)ASM(, Olas, and Alethea AI quickly becoming key players. These platforms combine AI with Web3 to create decentralized ecosystems, where AI agents are not just digital tools but also assets that can generate real value. These projects share some common goals:

• AI Integration: AI agents not only run in the background, but they actively enhance gameplay, interact with users, and bring new levels of immersion through co-ownership.
• Decentralized Ownership: Through a tokenization system, users can own, trade, and profit from AI agents, sharing the value created by these agents.
• Cross-platform compatibility: These AI agents can operate across different games, enhancing their utility and value, especially as the metaverse continues to grow.

Nim Network

Nim offers an AI-driven game blockchain stack on the Dymension network, featuring flexibility and providing customizable modular AI agents that can be integrated into multiple games.

What makes Nim unique: Nim focuses on creating games that can be played across different platforms.