Stablecoins issuer Circle, which reported minting over $2 billion in stablecoin USDC in just the past few weeks, has explored how the intersection of AI and blockchain tech is expected to transform our understanding of work and finance, especially via the use of “autonomous” payments.
Circle has introduced a concept that enables AI agents to operate and transact independently using digital dollars—USDC.
By adding financial features, these agents can handle tasks “fully and work independently.”
Circle has examined how to combine advanced AI with secure, automated payments and blockchain tech in order to create this system, using the Circle Developer Platform for payment processing.
Circle explained that it can use AutoGen’s AI framework and the Circle platform to create a network of AI agents that work together on complex tasks and get “paid directly with USDC, showing how automated payments can change how we do tasks and exchange value online.”
Circle added that they have also built a sample application to “demonstrate the autonomous system.”
Circle says they encourage users to use this template to build their own project and contribute back Circle’s sample applications.
As explained in the update, the AI agents don’t “own” or “spend” this compensation in a traditional sense. But this serves as “a proof of concept” for several futuristic scenarios:
- Autonomous AI Services: In the future, individuals or businesses may own custom AI agents that perform specific tasks or provide services over the internet. These agents can autonomously interact with other AI agents and manage business processes, generating passive income for their owners. Notably, when payment is initiated by another AI agent, traditional payment methods like credit cards won’t suffice. Instead, transactions between AI agents will need to occur through digital assets, with USDC being the preferred option.
- AI Marketplaces: A digital marketplace could allow people to rent or commission AI agents for various tasks, with earnings reinvested in AI capabilities and distributed through autonomous payments.
- AI Research Funding: In academic or corporate settings, this system could be used to allocate research funds based on the contributions of different AI models or systems.
- Human-AI Collaboration: Humans could work alongside AI agents in various fields, with compensation distributed based on the contributions of both human and AI team members, potentially utilizing autonomous payments.
In this setup, the “assets” earned by AI agents quantifies their performance and contributions. In a real-world application, this could translate to:
- Resources for further AI development or training
- Credits for human users to access AI services
- Financial returns for individuals or organizations that develop and deploy these AI agents
Using Circle’s Programmable Wallets and USDC on a testnet blockchain, they simulate these transactions to “safely demonstrate” the potential of combining AI with blockchain tech—”creating new paradigms of “value creation and distribution in the digital age through autonomous payments.”
At the core of their system are AI agents powered by AutoGen, an open-source programming framework designed for “building and orchestrating multiple AI agents for complex task solving.”
These agents collaborate to complete a research task and are subsequently compensated with USDC, “a digital representation of US dollars on the blockchain.”
