This week's xAI’s Grok 4 + Perplexity’s Comet releases got me thinking about a potential shift in how AI will integrate into our digital and physical lives. And the role crypto plays in all this.

The Evolution of Human-Computer Interaction

The human-computer relationship to date has been centered around optimizing UX to make computers more intuitive and efficient. Early GUIs evolved into touchscreens and voice assistants - computers were tools, and we’ve exponentially sharpened them since the 1970s. A great coffee book that explores this is Web Design: The Evolution of the Digital World by Rob Ford.

However, with LLMs like Grok 4, which Elon claims is smarter than almost all grad students in all disciplines simultaneously, and more immersive AI products like Comet that are “designed to be a thought partner and assistant for every aspect of your digital life”, it’s clear we’re trending toward a world where UX becomes no-code, seamless, and driven by natural-language and intents.

Aravind Srinivas

@AravSrinivas

We're excited to finally release our next big product after launching Perplexity in 2022: Comet. Comet is a browser that's designed to be a thought partner and assistant for every aspect of your digital life: work and personal.

An Agentic "Machine Layer"

With that in mind, I sense there's almost a new "machine layer" that'll sit between the existing human-computer relationship. For example, consider AI companions like those from Character AI or as portrayed in 2013’s film Her, where a digital entity becomes a confidant. This layer doesn’t just assist you - it interacts, adapts, and even influences you, blurring the line between tool and partner.

You can also imagine scenarios in the not-so-distant future where, given the recent acceleration in robotics, this “machine layer” takes on a life of its own. And develops its own character, akin to that of the human race.

Why Crypto Matters for Autonomous AI

At this level of scale, crypto becomes increasingly important because it helps ensure AI agents are truly independent and that their actions can be trusted. Just like we have our own identity and bank accounts, crypto gives AI agents a way to have their own secure digital "identity" and manage their own digital "money."

This means AI agents can act independently, and centralized companies aren't able to manipulate their actions (and thus indirectly manipulate other humans). Relatedly, blockchains enable verifiability (the ability to prove that an AI agent actually did something without being tampered with, without revealing all of its inner workings), helping build trust in a world where AI will be doing a lot more on its own.

Crypto's First AI Agents

I think the first at-scale parallel to the Character AI-phase of innovation in crypto was Truth Terminal / $GOAT: an AI agent with a wallet and an X account whose prolific, viral posts led to memetic contagion and $GOAT’s token hitting >$1B cap.

GOAT was soon followed by other AI agents like AIXBT, who shared real-time crypto market insights on X in a distinctly crypto-native, “degen” style. $AIXBT hit >400K followers and a >$700M mcap.

In both cases, to those of us on CT/Crypto Twitter, these AI agents literally felt “amongst us” - i.e., they had a personality of their own with a unique voice, character, and impact.

Looking Ahead: Collaborative Agentic Networks

I see GOAT and AIXBT as Character AI-type moments - i.e., the seeds toward a world where AI agents are not just tools but co-creators of our reality. And that, in a few years, we’ll probably see successful at-scale networks exclusively for AI agents, where they share insights and build communities. I can also see robotics enabling the physical manifestations of this - combining digital charisma/personalities with tangible presence.

I think Freysa AI is one early experiment toward such a world: a network of sovereign AI agents that are personalized and cryptographically bound to their creators. Your “digital twin” retains context over time, remembers your preferences, goals, and interactions, and builds an evolving model of you. Simultaneously, it participates in the broader “Twin Network”, a collective of other people’s twins, and cultivates a collaborative, decentralized, and autonomous social network of AI agents.

Looking forward, I think this “machine layer” means AI agents transcend their tool-like origins. By 2030, we’ll see networks like the Twin Network thrive, and I’m personally inspired by projects like Plastic Labs who are helping make agents more aligned and personalized through adaptive memory and social cognition.

Projects like Freysa and Plastic Labs - both leveraging crypto rails - hint at a future where agentic networks can thrive, reflecting human-like collaboration and creativity. And I'm excited by the potential to co-create with these entities! :)

Ready to Build?

If you're also excited, and especially if you're building a company in this category, please reach out. I'd love to connect!

The Machine Layer: How AI Agents and Crypto Are Reshaping Our Reality