NFTs are more than just digital art: Will intelligent agents be the next trend?

Original text: Daniel Barabander, Variant

Compiled by: Yuliya,

In today's digital age, NFTs (non-fungible tokens) have become a hot topic. To understand the value of NFTs, we can think of them as "special items" in the digital world, which possess characteristics similar to those of items in the real world.

Let's start with the common example of buying a house. When we purchase a house, we receive a property certificate, which can prove who the previous owners of the house are (property provenance). As the homeowner, we can use the house exclusively and have the right to prevent others from entering at will (exclusive rights). Moreover, if we renovate the house or make other improvements, these changes will remain with the house (improvability). Ordinary digital items cannot achieve these, but NFTs can simulate these three core characteristics.

Currently, NFTs have mainly achieved a product-market fit in the art sector, but they mostly only utilize two characteristics: provenance and exclusivity. For example, Botto's work "Asymmetrical Liberation" relies on the provenance capability of NFTs to prove that it is the first piece created during Botto's "Genesis Period," and the holder has exclusive control over it. However, similar to physical artworks, the owner cannot make changes to the piece itself. There has been little exploration of NFTs in terms of "improvability," with the closest application being game NFTs, such as players upgrading their characters in games. However, this feature is still severely underrated.

A more innovative application scenario is using NFTs for smart agents. Smart agents are like digital assistants that can remember interactions with users, perfectly showcasing the three core characteristics of NFTs:

• Exclusive Rights: NFT holders enjoy exclusive access to agent memories.
• Improvement: Every time an NFT holder uses the agent, its memory updates, accumulating exclusive experiences and remembering the holder's optimization adjustments.
• Property Traceability: The agency can only be used by the NFT holder, so its past holding records can demonstrate their accumulated experience, equivalent to a "resume."

For example, if the famous writer Tolkien had used a certain intelligent agent to write "The Hobbit," this intelligent agent with special experience would be of unique value to new writers wanting to create fantasy novels. This is because it not only accumulated the experiences of Tolkien during his creative process, but these experiences are unique and cannot be replicated.

Although most agents may be more suitable as publicly-facing API services, similar to SaaS products, intelligent agent NFTs are more like a racehorse: their value comes from who the trainer was, the accumulated training results will always be retained, and at the same time, only one owner can use it. Currently, companies like Plastic Labs are developing the underlying technology that supports this type of intelligent agent NFT.

This innovative model that combines NFTs with intelligent agents not only expands the application boundaries of digital assets but also brings new design ideas to the fields of software development and artificial intelligence. With the continuous development of technology, we may see more intelligent agent applications that are both personalized and market-valued.