Author's Opinion: Syed Hussain, Founder and CEO of SHIZA
Amid changes in geopolitics and macroeconomics, the traditional labor economy is rapidly declining, and these changes are happening much faster than policymakers, educators, and even technologists are willing to acknowledge. As AI systems surpass humans in many tasks that were once thought to be secure, such as software development, generating market content, data analysis, and even strategic consulting, our core assumptions about the reliability of time and skills being traded are being dismantled in real-time.
We are witnessing the collapse of an economic model that primarily values labor as a mechanism for value creation.
When discussing whether AI will replace jobs, the more important question is: who owns the infrastructure for creating new value? If intelligence becomes a resource, then those who own and manage AI agents, rather than relying on opaque centralized models, will shape the next generation of the economy. At that point, cryptocurrency will not just be a financial tool, but the infrastructure for owning AI systems, rather than relying on large tech companies.
An Unexpected Wave of Automation
The trend is clear. The current wave of AI automation is different from before; it is not slowly replacing factory workers, but rapidly absorbing the white-collar jobs that once defined the middle class.
Fundamental tasks such as content generation, financial modeling, legal research, and software development are now being handled by AI agents. It is expected that in five years, more complex fields such as strategic planning, teaching, relationship management, and scientific discovery will also be disrupted.
Collaboration and Integration of AI
In the age of AI, the value of traditional skills is rapidly depreciating. What matters is the ability to think systemically, integrate, and own AI workflows. This means building personalized AI agents, training them to perform tasks, and ensuring that the value they create belongs to you. The goal is no longer to compete with AI, but to command it, which requires infrastructure that supports autonomy and ownership.
Fortunately, the evolution of the ownership economy, based on control over digital tools, data, and value flows, provides a viable path forward. In particular, blockchain achieves this through private model training, decentralized computing, tokenized incentives, and wallet-based identity systems.
Ownership Economic Revolution
Imagine personal autonomous agents that operate like freelancers, providing customer support, performing research tasks, or analyzing financial trends. Meanwhile, as a human owner, you gain from their activities. No longer is it about selling your time to corporate-owned gig platforms, but rather deploying AI agents to work continuously for yourself, freeing up time for higher-level creative or interpersonal work.
As wallets continue to evolve to support agent coordination, token incentives are shifting from capital staking to training and maintaining AI agents. The building blocks of this new economy are quietly taking shape.
Of course, this transition will be accompanied by legal and regulatory challenges, especially as autonomous agents begin to trade, negotiate, and represent humans in digital markets. While questions about liability, authorship rights, and taxation remain, the direction is clear: value will accumulate in the hands of those who possess intelligence, rather than those who cling to increasingly obsolete forms of labor.
The most important application of blockchain will not be payments or custody, but rather enabling individuals to own an increasing share of economic and creative activities. The choice is no longer about resisting or accepting AI, but about owning your AI.
Author's Opinion: Syed Hussain, Founder and CEO of SHIZA.
This article is for general informational purposes only and should not be construed as legal or investment advice. The views and opinions expressed here are solely those of the author and do not reflect or represent the views and opinions of Cointelegraph.