What are autonomous agents and their applications
There are two implementations of Autonomous Agents on different distributed registry solutions. Perhaps the most popular are smart contracts and distributed applications in Ethereum. However, you can not call them fully autonomous, still in the network of the second most capitalized cryptocurrency there are miners, which in the future will be replaced by validators, but, as we have seen, they can not only significantly affect the execution of Autonomous Agents solutions, but also cause direct damage to the community.
A slightly different implementation in another principle of distributed registry construction, where the developers decided to get rid of blockchain principles, giving preference to a directed acyclic graph. This approach eliminates validators and miners, or other intermediaries in the network that determine the order and validity of added transactions. With this approach, the current implementation of autonomous agents appears to be more independent. However, we will consider Ethereum-based autonomous programs as the most common and worked out by thousands of examples.
Autonomous agent definition
An autonomous agent is a program, whose source code is entirely open and available for anyone to view, which is stored in a distributed registry and has its own address, just like the other participants of the network. Autonomous agent’s logic implies performing some actions in response to sending coins of the underlying distributed registry or data to the previously obtained address. In this, autonomous agents are similar to smart contracts in ethereum.
If we take a real life example, we can take the work of automated exchanges on the Internet to consider. By sending one unit of currency to the exchanger’s wallet, the user hopes to receive the previously selected assets to their details. However, despite the automation and relative non-interference of third parties in the transaction, the creator of the exchanger can change the logic of its program unilaterally, and storage on a centralized server and closed source code allows such solutions to work only on trust. That is why reputation is so important in all similar cases.
The same example can be organized as a standalone agent, the source code of which will be stored on a distributed registry. The program will implement the function of exchanging some tokens for others. When sending an exchange request, if the free liquidity at the autonomous agent’s addresses allows to execute it sufficiently, having received the assets, the program itself will send the selected tokens to the user’s wallet without any third-party involvement. Thus, an autonomous agent is similar to a smart contract, but in the latter case, the list of participants is pre-defined, though not limited, while in an autonomous agent, the programmed site will initiate a response in any case.
What autonomous agents are used for
Autonomous agents allow the implementation of various life interactions of individuals or groups. They can be considered one of the initial implementations of the transition to the era of the Web 3.0 Internet. Already now on their basis work:
- Algorithmically stable tokens,
- options,
- futures,
- synthetic assets,
- collateralized loans,
- decentralized exchanges,
- payment gateways,
- market makers,
- decentralized games,
- decentralized oracles.
This is by no means a complete list. The very idea of autonomous agents is limited only by the desire of their creators and mathematical laws. Given that mathematicians believe it is possible to describe any life event using formulas, the application of autonomous agents becomes limitless.
Conclusion
Autonomous agents are interesting independent software entities, which will allow to unify and automate many sectors of human life. Nowadays, programs with independent decision making are most popular in finances and near-financial sectors. However, in the not so distant future, distributed registries may be extended to other areas of life, where interaction of various objects leads to a clear, predetermined result.
