The Post Web: Read, Write, Own, Delegate

As a researcher who has been immersed in the world of Web3 for over a decade now, I must admit that I’ve seen quite a rollercoaster ride. From the early days of blockchain experiments to the current convergence of AI and crypto, it’s been an exhilarating journey, filled with both triumphs and trials.

Over the last seven days, the financial markets have undergone a significant reversal. This presents an opportune moment for innovators and creators to envision and prepare for the forthcoming era of Web3.

The convergence of AI x Crypto and the subsequent explosion of agents on blockchains, we propose, means we are evolving from not “Read, Write, Own” to “Read, Write, Own, Delegate,” creating a new internet paradigm we call The Post Web.

We are moving from the era of the “Attention Economy,” where internet properties compete for our mindshare, to the “Intention Economy,” where agents work to optimally solve our intentions, forming an unprecedented market super cycle.

How did we get here?

Through advancements in social media, our online interaction evolved from merely reading content to actively creating and sharing it on the web. Subsequently, the arrival of Web3 empowered us to not only consume but also possess digital property, effectively decentralizing and disentangling the potent structures of Web2 platforms.

But today, even with markets picking up, just 5% of the global population uses crypto, and just 1% of internet users (those we assumed would be Web3’s early adopters) use DeFi or DApps at all.

Essentially, most of us continue to navigate through daily activities like living, working, shopping, and playing within the realm of Web2, where attention serves as the primary currency. Modern internet platforms are fine-tuned by robust algorithms that gather, bundle, and market user data to advertisers who aim to convert this information into online spending.

So why has Web3 seemingly failed to be adopted?

Essentially, after many years of development, Web3 remains difficult for most users to navigate and utilize effectively. This isn’t due to a lack of effort but rather because its advancements don’t directly relate to the traditional web experience. Instead of offering a more intuitive way for people to interact with the internet, it primarily consists of underlying technologies that remain underutilized. In essence, Web3 is like a sleeping giant, waiting for a user-friendly interface that can awaken its full potential and make it accessible to everyday users.

At the same time, there has been progress and integration of artificial intelligence. Ranging from large language models (LLMs) to self-governing networks, they demonstrate how user interfaces can grow in terms of intuition and ability to manage complex tasks.

It’s increasingly apparent that to fully unleash the capabilities of Web3, we need Language Learning Models (LLMs) as a user-friendly, natural language interface for interaction. These agentic networks can execute intricate backend actions on the blockchain using intent-based architectures, such as approving transactions or moving between different networks seamlessly. Essentially, cryptocurrency and artificial intelligence are evolving together in a mutually beneficial way.

As a researcher contemplating alternate futures, I ponder: Could Web3 not be primarily designed for human interaction at all? Instead, might it evolve into a novel suite of internet protocols, engineered specifically for machines to oversee and manage our digital assets and lives? In this hypothetical scenario, many tasks traditionally handled by humans—including work and substantial portions of the consumer internet—would be delegated to these automated agents on our behalf.

AI needs real economic agency

As an analyst, I find that while Language Models like ChatGPT can offer valuable advice on tasks, they lack the ability to carry out those tasks themselves. They can’t handle tasks such as booking a holiday, setting up a bank account, or signing a new mobile phone agreement. To perform these functions effectively, they require adaptive agents and contracting capabilities.

To truly empower agents with complete autonomy, a novel computational approach that combines determinism with adaptability is required. This would be accompanied by an internet specifically designed for machines, featuring machine-readable contracts and a digital currency system for peer-to-peer, or more accurately, agent-to-agent, financial transactions.

Over the past ten years, the convergence of Web3 technology and artificial intelligence has held great interest for both myself and Outlier Ventures, an international startup accelerator that I established a decade back.

Since 2016, we’ve been brainstorming about the fusion of AI and blockchain technology, writing multiple articles on the subject and pioneering the first decentralized AI investment. This early-stage company, known as Fetch.AI, was the initial decentralized protocol created specifically for autonomous agents. Over time, it merged with other notable DeAI projects such as Ocean and CUDOS, transforming into $ASI.

Skip ahead to the current timeframe. Currently, there are more than 195 AI-crypto startups in existence, making this sector one of the most buzzworthy of 2024, boasting a combined market capitalization of approximately $28 billion. Notably, many prominent Layer One protocols, such as Ethereum, NEAR, TAO, and ICP, are now strategically positioning themselves to accommodate AI agents within their systems.

Built on the practical need for AI and Decentralized AI (DeAI) and Decentralized Pin (DePin), this latest wave of services aims to establish a fresh class of digital assets, grounded in the authentic fundamentals of supply and demand. This innovation is expected to initiate a new growth cycle that will shape the upcoming significant bull market surge. Initially, it may not be free from the volatility inherent in cryptocurrencies; however, their resilience should be bolstered by protocol income streams, which should provide a stable foundation for their token economies.

From Read to Write to Own to Delegate

In this scenario, we can consider the past ten years of Web3 as a process that has refined and toughened a collection of technologies based on distributed systems, smart contracts, token economics, DAOs (Decentralized Autonomous Organizations), and DeFi (Decentralized Finance). These complex structures are currently beyond the operational capacity of most individuals at large scale. However, they are ideally suited for AI (Artificial Intelligence) and the agent-driven internet.

Above all, the result of the convergence process won’t merely be another version of the web; instead, it signifies the demise of the web as we currently understand it. As the internet evolves to cater more effectively to agents, these entities will no longer require the various layers of the web that humans have created for convenience. Instead, they can circumvent these human-created shortcuts, directly seeking optimal outcomes.

It symbolizes the end of searching, intrusive ads, the need for a separate site or application for every purpose, and even the concept of the app store itself.

This implies a complete, gradual then swift dismantling of business structures that rely on the ‘attention economy’ model as a whole.

This is the transition from the attention economy to the intention economy, where the agentic internet assembles to optimally solve your needs through intent-based architectures. It is deterministic yet Adaptive, verifiable and hyper contextual. When you optimize for intention over attention, you get minimally extractive value chains and maximally optimised outcomes.

In simple terms, the realm of possibilities for AI development presents a thrilling new route toward achieving artificial superintelligence, or AI enlightenment, ideally following the philosophies of Web3, emphasizing individual control, collaborative openness, robust security, and flexible modular design.

Over the past few months, we’ve had countless conversations with founders from our extensive network and portfolio of nearly 400 startups. Our aim is to synthesize these discussions into a well-defined thesis and an ongoing podcast series. This content will be unveiled in the upcoming weeks as we strive to equip the industry with the tools needed to adapt and thrive during the era of convergence and the Post Web landscape.

Join us to explore The Post Web.

Please be aware that the opinions shared in this article belong solely to the writer and may not align with those held by CoinDesk, its proprietors, or their associates.