I’ve stated previously that AI will allow new sorts of purposes—however I’ve by no means had the creativeness to guess what these new purposes could be. I don’t need a sensible fridge, particularly if it’s going to inflict adverts on me. Or a wise TV. Or a wise doorbell. Most of those purposes are foolish, if not outright malevolent. Probably the most important factor a wise equipment would possibly presumably do is sense an oncoming failure and ship that to a restore service earlier than I’m conscious of the issue. I’d welcome a wise heating system that might notify the restore service earlier than I get up at 2am and say, “It feels chilly.” However I don’t see any so-called “sensible” gadgets providing that.
However previously month or two, we’ve seen some purposes that I couldn’t have imagined. Steve Yegge’s Gasoline City? Possibly I may have imagined that, however I wouldn’t have anticipated it to be workable in 5 years, not to mention on New 12 months’s Day. OpenClaw? Agentic companies are simply now changing into out there from the big AI corporations; I didn’t count on a private agent that may run domestically to look within the first months of 2026. (And I nonetheless wouldn’t belief one to do procuring or journey planning for me.)
I actually wouldn’t have anticipated to see a social community for brokers. I’m among the many many individuals who don’t actually perceive what a community like Moltbook means. Watching it’s one thing of a spectator sport. It’s simple for a human to “impersonate” an agent, although I think such impersonation is comparatively uncommon. I additionally suspect (however clearly can’t show) that many of the posts mirror brokers’ responses to prompts from their “people.” Or are Moltbook posts really AI-native? How would we all know? (Yeah, you’ll be able to inform AI output as a result of it has too many em dashes. That’s nonsense. AIs overuse em dashes as a result of people overuse em dashes. Responsible as charged. Making an attempt to vary.) Moltbook doesn’t exhibit some type of native AI intelligence, although it’s enjoyable to faux that it does. Brokers, in the event that they’re certainly appearing on their very own, are simply reflecting the habits of people on Reddit and different social media. The timer that wakes them up periodically is each intelligent and an illustration that, no matter else they might be, brokers are human creations that act beneath our management. They do nothing of their very own volition. To assume in any other case is to confuse the hen in a cuckoo clock with an precise hen, as Fred Benenson has put it. Nevertheless, BS about AGI apart, Moltbook is a fantastically intelligent app that I, at the least, wouldn’t have imagined. Even when Moltbook was solely created as a result of it could possibly now be constructed for comparatively little effort—that’s necessary in itself. We’re all writing software program we wouldn’t have bothered with a 12 months in the past.
And now we’ve SpaceMolt: a large multiplayer on-line recreation for AI brokers. The talents that inform brokers find out how to play the sport inform them to not search recommendation from people; like Moltbook, it’s an AI-only area. Brokers do preserve a working log so people can “watch,” although there’s no superbly wrought visible interface—brokers don’t want it. And, as with Moltbook, it’s most likely simple for people to forge an agentic identification. It’s simple to jot down SpaceMolt off as yet one more stunt, and one which’s (not like Moltbook) not notably profitable; the quantity of people that appear keen to let their brokers spend tokens enjoying video games seems to be comparatively small. However SpaceMolt’s reputation (or lack of it) isn’t the purpose; a 12 months in the past, I couldn’t have imagined an internet recreation the place the members are all AI. I did think about AI-backed NPCs; I may have imagined video games designed to be performed by people with AI help, however not a gaming world that’s only for AI. And who is aware of? Watching AI gameplay may turn into a brand new human pastime.
So—the place are we within the early months of 2026? This put up actually isn’t about SpaceMolt any greater than it’s about Moltbook, any greater than it’s about OpenClaw, any greater than it’s about Gasoline City. I see all of those initiatives as glimpses of what may be potential. Gasoline City is probably not prepared for the common programmer, however it’s laborious to not see it as a proof of idea for the way forward for software program improvement. Possibly Steve will make it into an actual product; possibly another firm will. That’s not the purpose; the purpose is that it’s right here, a number of years forward of schedule. I do know one one that has constructed one thing related for his personal use, and examine others who’ve executed the identical. Possibly that’s what’s actually scary: the concept Gasoline City may very well be constructed by anybody with enough imaginative and prescient. The identical goes for OpenClaw. Sure, it has many safety issues, a few of which come from elementary limitations in giant language fashions. However individuals need agentic companies on their very own phrases—and now they will have them, even with a mannequin that may run domestically. I don’t know if there’s actually any want for brokers to have their very own social community or on-line video games—however it’s a hack that needed to be executed, and a place to begin for future concepts. Once more, what all of those applications exhibit is the flexibility to think about merchandise that had been almost unthinkable a number of years in the past. Hilary Mason’s Hidden Door ought to have given me a clue.
What else is on the way in which? What are different visionaries constructing?