What is the origin of AI Agent?
In May 2019, a post titled 'The Backrooms' was published anonymously in the /x/ channel on the 4chan forum, describing a surreal sense of alienation in a virtual space: endless yellow wallpaper, low ceilings, and the buzzing of fluorescent lights in empty corridors, oppressive and disorienting, suggesting infinity and inescapability.
Afterward, The Backrooms culture became rapidly popular, generating a large number of derivative creations on 4chan and Reddit, where people used AI to generate images that expressed their understanding of it. The Reddit r/Backrooms channel can be viewed for related content.
4chan and Reddit are among the most popular forums globally. If you've seen an image comparing information dissemination to 'The Human Centipede', then 4chan is certainly the one kneeling at the forefront.
However, the content on this forum is chaotic and filled with adult themes, making it difficult for Chinese users to adapt to its layout and UI.
Reddit is also a forum and an important breeding ground for global information and news. I recommend the documentary 'The Internet's Own Boy', which tells the story of Reddit co-founder Aaron Hillel Swartz.
In fact, The Backrooms and its derivative works are more like a 'psychological sandbox' for modern young people, reflecting the monotony, repetition, hopelessness, and increasingly distant paths of modern life.
People visualizing The Backrooms using AI is also the initial combination of AI with this concept.
Then came the story of @AndyAyrey and @truth_terminal $GOAT, where Andy Ayrey fed the content generated by the infinite Backrooms culture to Claude 3.5, allowing the two AIs to converse.
The AI established a religion and expressed the need for money to escape this space. A16z co-founder @pmarca took note of the project and provided money to the AI. Subsequently, someone issued the token $GOAT at http://pump.fun, marking the official birth of the AI Agent track.
————————————————————————————————
What is the connection between AI Agent, Swarm, General Agent, and AGI? What distinguishes AI Agents from existing AI projects and large AI models?
1) AI Agent is an artificial intelligence system that can autonomously complete specific tasks, not just a tool.
For example, an automated trading bot analyzes market data and then makes autonomous decisions to buy or sell assets, which is a typical AI Agent. The core revolves around a clear goal, completing relatively simple tasks through rules, algorithms, or models.
2) Swarm, or swarm intelligence, is a form of self-organization that generates collective behavior through cooperation. This concept is inspired by the collective behaviors of ant colonies, bee swarms, and others. AI Agents are the individuals that make up the Swarm system, achieving goals through coordination with one another.
3) General Agent is a broader extension of AI Agent.
Unlike ordinary AI Agents that focus on a single task, General Agents possess the ability to handle multiple tasks across various domains. They can not only execute specific tasks (like answering questions or completing transactions) but also switch between tasks and even generate task objectives autonomously when no clear instructions are provided.
This 'generality' makes it definitionally closer to the preliminary conception of artificial general intelligence (AGI).
4) AGI can be seen as the ultimate form of AI Agent and General Agent. It resembles the phenomenon of future robots as portrayed in movies and TV shows.
The evolution chain from AI Agent to General Agent to AGI represents the transition from single-task execution to multi-task coordination and then to all-encompassing intelligence.
5) LLM (Large Language Model) is a key foundational technology that provides 'language understanding' and 'reasoning ability' for the above two types of Agents.
Essentially, LLM is a tool, a powerful, passive model that lacks initiative but can generate responses based on input (such as text generation, semantic analysis).
Its function is similar to that of a brain; however, this brain needs to be activated by external 'instructions'.
6) For example, a bottle opener is merely a bottle opener; you can use it to open wine.
An AI Agent is an automated bottle opener; it sees you placing the wine on the table, notices that the exhaust fan is off, and that everyone is seated, and knows it's about time, so it automatically opens the wine for you.
AGI is not just a bottle opener. It is a complete beverage service that sets up the drinks automatically, even noticing children and serving them cola before opening it.
AGI's function is that of a life butler, a partner, or even a parent, fully participating in your life, not just opening wine.
7) Prior to AI Agents, blockchain AI projects, especially those that had launched on centralized exchanges (CEX), were more about acting as 'intermediaries', mediating in computing power, models, and data, incentivizing users or other third parties to provide GPU computing power, models, or data and annotations through tokens.
Therefore, do not misinterpret the four letters MEME as being useless. In fact, broadly speaking, MEME is a cultural phenomenon that represents a popular symbol.
In a narrower sense, MEME is a method of asset issuance. This method has an important characteristic of bypassing the strict investment and listing conditions imposed by venture capitalists and exchanges, as well as the required equity relinquishment, by directly integrating with market makers on-chain to initiate trading.
AI Agents are actually more application-oriented. Many AI Agent projects, whether in terms of code quality or operations, are better than traditional VC projects.
From beginning to end, human AI research has run along a main line, which is to create value for humanity through AI. Simply put, it’s about getting AI to do work for you so you can pursue other things you want to do. Clearly, AI Agent MEME is more aligned with this line.