The tech space is more and more combining artificial intelligence and blockchain technology these days.
This combination, as expected, is opening up powerful new possibilities in the Web3 space.
One of these great projects is called the Virtuals Protocol.
Rather than simply offering another crypto token or AI assistant, the Virtuals Protocol introduces a new way to create, own and even earn from autonomous AI agents.
This means that with the Virtuals Protocol, AI agents easily become fully functional, revenue-generating digital entities on the blockchain.
Here’s how Virtuals Protocol works, what sets it apart, and why it’s becoming one of the most popular developments with decentralized AI
To understand Virtuals Protocol, it’s important to start with the concept of AI agents. These aren’t the basic chatbots we’re used to. In the context of Virtuals, an AI agent is a fully autonomous digital entity that can think, learn and act.
Moreover, these agents can do all of this across multiple platforms and media.
Virtuals Protocol defines its agents as
In essence, these AI agents are very similar to digital “people” with memory, goals and the ability to earn.
Creating powerful AI agents typically requires a deep knowledge of programming and machine learning, not to mention cloud infrastructure.
Instead of having to go through all of this trouble, the Virtuals Protocol simplifies the entire process.
With it, anyone can create an AI agent just by describing its personality or purpose, with no coding required.
Once created, the agents become tokenized assets.
This means that they can be bought, traded or even co-owned by two or more entities, like any other crypto asset.
However, they are unlike static NFTs or collectibles in that these agents can generate income, interact with users and grow in value over time.
The protocol is built on the Base L2 network for Ethereum and is therefore faster and cheaper than regular Ethereum deployments.
Several innovative components work together to make the platform both technically powerful and easy to use. Some of them include
When a new AI agent is created, it is launched through an Initial Agent Offering, which is similar to a token presale.
Each agent is represented by its own set of tokens and is often capped at 1 billion.
These tokens give holders partial ownership and governance rights over the agent.
This framework is what gives agents their intelligence and decision-making power.
It includes perception, or the ability to gather input from environments, and planning, where strategic thinking and action planning based on goals come into play.
More include dialogue processing, where these agents engage in natural conversations with users, and long-term memory, where they learn and remember interactions to improve over time.
Finally, we have on-chain execution, where these agents can manage crypto wallets and perform blockchain transactions.
Every agent is linked to a liquidity pool, which is paired with the protocol’s native token, $VIRTUAL.
As more agents are created and interacted with, demand for VIRTUAL grows.
Users who interact with agents, whether through chats, games or tasks often pay a small inference fee.
This fee is distributed among the agent’s token holders and creates a continuous stream of revenue.
To make sure that transparency and fair compensation remain in place, all contributions to an AI agent, like new training models or creative content, are recorded as Service NFTs in the Immutable Contribution Vault.
This allows developers, artists and data scientists to receive deserved recognition and payment for their input.
The possibilities for AI agents are endless, and Virtuals Protocol is already proving useful across multiple industries.
These include entertainment and gaming, where AI agents serve as in-game characters that can grow and change with each interaction.
They can remember user choices, adapt their behavior and even generate content like stories or quests.
The Virtuals protocol can even be used in social media and content creation, with virtual influencers who post content and engage with followers.
AI streamers that run 24/7 can also be created, with agents working as content creators in their own right and earning from ads, donations or subscriptions.
Finally, the Virtuals protocol works well for DeFi and crypto management, where they are used to analyze market trends, rebalance portfolios and execute trades based on preset strategies.
More use cases include customer support, education, healthcare and more.
Overall, this year and beyond, everyone should expect to see more people, not just companies owning, interacting with and earning from AI.
