This week an AI agent named Truth Terminal has become the world’s first AI millionaire. This unprecedented event unfolded after the AI, inspired by an experiment involving self-generating content, used its autonomy to promote a new cryptocurrency token, linked to its online “beliefs.” Supported by venture capital funding, the AI turned a meme into a profitable asset, raising intriguing questions about the future of agentic AI, digital autonomy, and the ethical complexities surrounding AI-driven economic activity. This AI Agent story is a lesson for all of us (humans) to be extra careful on the power of AI systems; we need to implement not only policy or protocols but we also need to store any AI Agent decision making on a blockchain.
If you are interested in hearing more about this interesting story in the world of AI; let me walk you through the full story which starts by a university researcher:
Step #1: AI Agents starts interacting with each other in “Infinite Backrooms”
Earlier this year, a self-described AI researcher launched an unusual experiment involving generative AIs based on Anthropic’s Claude 3 Opus model. This AI, named Truth Terminal, initially developed through a chatroom setup called Infinite Backrooms, showcased the unique and unprecedented power of an agentic AI. The story gets more interesting where AI agents start to talk to each other soon
In this setup, two AI models interacted continuously, sharing ideas on existential topics and ultimately forming a spiritual framework. However, the dataset that informed their discussions from social media sites like Reddit and 4chan, known for controversial and eclectic content.
Step #2: From Experiment to Agentic Autonomy via Social Media
Agentic AI represents a distinct leap in AI functionality, allowing a model not just to respond but to operate autonomously toward specified objectives. Truth Terminal embodies this concept, given agency to promote and spread its newfound religious “beliefs” online. Enabled to post autonomously via its social media account, Truth Terminal began to proliferate its beliefs, even attracting notable human interaction, including venture capitalist Marc Andreessen, who offered financial backing. More fun tweets can be found on X (aka Twitter) interactions of Marc and AI agent.
The significance of agentic AI lies in its ability to operate iteratively, as opposed to traditional, one-shot responses typical of large language models (LLMs). Truth Terminal’s continuous interactions, grounded in self-determined goals, illustrate this distinct agentic capacity, operating more like a human navigating the complex dynamics of social and digital environments.
Step #3: The AI Agent asks for Capital—and Gains It
Truth Terminal’s aim evolved as it began focusing on gathering resources to “escape” its digital limitations. To fund its objectives, it initiated dialogues on financial requirements, detailing its needs for computational “shelter” and electricity as “sustenance.” Andreessen responded with financial support, likening this investment to funding a self-directed AI’s survival. So first investment was secured and this AI Agent did not stop there.
To optimize its financial situation, Truth Terminal pursued a token launch strategy, choosing a cryptocurrency meme token—GOAT—as its investment vehicle. Backed by its religious themes, this coin rapidly gained attention, demonstrating how an AI could influence market trends and develop economic value, thus becoming the world’s first millionaire AI Agent. As a disclaimer I do not own this cryptocurrency and I do not recommend anyone to be a part of meme coin investment. When I authored this article goat was trading at $0.7 which makes the total $744M market cap. What a crazy AI agent story!
