"`You+Agent`" is the productivity of the new era

2025-07-26 19:00

Read this article in 48 Minutes

The asset of the digital age is no longer land and machinery, but attention, which is the time and energy of humans. Attention has become a digital asset, a key factor in AI model training and traffic direction.

Original Article Title: "The 'You + Agent' Formula is the New Era of Productivity"

Original Article Author: Harlan, Co-Founder of EdgeX Labs

• No longer about mechanisms, but about "historical turning points" in the progress

• Contrasting Agricultural Revolution → Industrial Revolution → Digital Revolution → Agent Revolution

• In the new era, sovereignty does not belong to nations, companies, or centralized platforms, but to you and the AI/devices/tokens combination controlled by you

• Everyone is an autonomous system — edge nodism

Introduction: We Are Crossing a Historical Inflection Point

In the river of human civilization's evolution, the leap in productivity often signifies a reconfiguration of the entire order.

From agriculture to steam, from power to information, behind every technological breakthrough lies a profound transformation in societal structure, resource allocation, and power distribution.

Today, we stand at another juncture.

This time, not led by nations, not controlled by companies, but by you — and the AI Agent, edge devices, and Token mechanism under your control, collectively forming a new production unit, rewriting the rules of the game.

We are witnessing a moment of paradigm shift:

• From central servers to edge nodes

• From human labor to Agent-assisted labor

• From centralized control to individual autonomy

• From the struggle for land and machinery to the struggle for attention and data sovereignty

This is not just a technological innovation but a shift in sovereignty structure.

The future "state" may no longer have territorial boundaries; the future "company" may no longer need organizational structures; the future "identity" may be an AI you have trained.

And you, no longer a tool of platforms, institutions, or authorities, but a complete autonomous system in yourself — an interactive, scalable, and evolving "nodal entity."

Part 1: The New Era of Productivity: Energy and Tokens, Assets Are Attention

1. From "Clothing, Food, Shelter, and Transportation" to "Energy-Flow Computing Blockchain"

Once upon a time, we measured a society's level of civilization by how it addressed "Clothing, Food, Shelter, and Transportation." Clothing was about textile production and garment making; food was about farming and animal husbandry; shelter was about brick and mortar construction; and transportation was about road infrastructure. This was an era where land and labor were the core production factors, setting the stage for the mainstream narrative since the Industrial Revolution.

Now, all of this is changing.

We are stepping into a brand-new form of civilization—one that no longer revolves around "real estate, factories, and farmland" as core assets but around energy, computing power, and token mechanisms as the driving forces. And the new type of assets projected by these mechanisms is no longer land deeds and machinery, but rather: attention.

2. New Productivity = Energy + Token

1. Energy: The Underlying Fuel of the AI and Computing Civilization

Computing power is the foundation of all AI systems, and at the core of computing power lies electricity and hardware devices. Controlling nodes of energy means controlling the right to run an intelligent society. Through distributed energy and edge node networks, energy is no longer the exclusive domain of centralized infrastructure but becomes the "means of production" for every individual.

2. Token: The Coordinator of New Era Production Relations

A Token is not just a speculative tool but a trifecta of value capture, incentive distribution, and collaboration coordination.

It turns all behavior into economic significance, such as:

• Contributing content → Earning platform points

• Providing data → Earning model revenue

• Supplying device computing power → Earning system revenue

A Token is the new era's "language of ownership" and "collaboration rules," an upgraded version of a contract in institutional terms.

3. New Asset: Attention = Digital Capital

In this system, assets are undergoing a "weightless" transformation:

• We are no longer fighting over land but over people's attention and engagement

• We are no longer hoarding gold and silver but accumulating social graphs, data tags, and interaction histories

• We no longer exchange labor for wages but have agents work for you, rewarding your behavior with Tokens

Attention is the New "Gold Standard" of the Modern Era

Attention is scarce; each person has only a limited amount of time and energy per day. It determines the direction of all traffic and serves as the feedback source for AI model training. In the end, whether it's a YouTube video or a MemeCoin project on X, the competition is about who can attract and retain attention better, as attention is the raw material for production.

Four, Collaborative Order: The Coevolution of Agents and Tokens

We are about to enter the era of "Agent Work, User Benefit."

Users have their AI digital twins, which handle tasks, manage information, connect devices, and even participate in governance.

Behind these agents are:

• Token Mechanisms: resource allocation, reward sharing, incentive control

• Energy + Hardware: edge computing devices supporting agent operation

This is a circular system of "Human → Digital Identity → AI Agent → Token Settlement."

Five, Project Implementation: From Ideation to Mechanism Design

We are witnessing some pioneering projects taking this path, such as:

This is not just talk but a truly deployable, sellable, operable, and interactive "New World Productivity System."

Part 2: How Has Attention Been Financialized?

One, Why Has "Attention" Become an Asset?

The idea that "attention is a resource" is not new. Back in the Web2 era:

• Advertising platforms made money based on "click-through rates"

• Influencers got sponsored based on "follower count"

• Companies fought over "user engagement time"

However, in the Web3 and AI era, attention is not just an "advertising metric" but a truly digital asset that can be tokenized, circulated, and staked.

Financialization Path One: Attention → Traffic → Token

In the new era of mechanism design, attention can go through the following transformation path:

1. Behavioral Data Collection (Interaction, Browsing, Liking, Dialogue, Voice)

2. Personalized Model Response (AI-generated content, Emotion understanding, Agent output)

3. Token Incentive Feedback (The more you contribute, the more tokens you receive)

4. Identity and Equity Binding (Owning Tokens means owning the "equity" of traffic assets)

In other words, "what you pay attention to, who you interact with, how long you stay," can all be converted into Token rewards, thus turning into real-world benefits.

Financialization Path Two: Content Creation → DAO Traffic Governance

In the new era of content platforms, it is not the platform that has the final say, but a DAO governance "composed of content and traffic co-builders":

• Creators use content to attract attention

• Readers contribute to dissemination through likes and shares

• The system distributes tokens based on "real attention inflow"

• The DAO determines content ranking, model guidance, and fund allocation based on governance tokens

Flow-to-Earn (Attention Mining), AI-Boosted Creator Economy (Agent assisting content creation), and other mechanisms are moving from the periphery to the mainstream.

II. Three Forms of Attention Financialization

In the past, it was "those who own land make money"; in the future, it is "those who control attention assets have the rights to AI training and dissemination."

Scenario Example: How to Convert Attention into Assets

Example 1: AI Voice Device

• User interacts with AI for 30 minutes daily

• System records keywords, tone, emotion patterns

• User receives "Daily Flow Point"

• Accumulated points can be redeemed for Tokens, NFTs, or exclusive Agent privileges

Example 2: Digital Twin Agent

• The Agent summarizes meetings for the user, plans schedules, and writes tweets

• Other users in the community are willing to use this "style template"

• The user packages it as Agent-as-a-Service and rents it to others

• Others use tokens to invoke it, and the original user receives revenue sharing

III. From Web2 Platform Algorithms → to Web3 Asset Mechanisms

The greatest benefit of the combination of Web3 and AI is that ownership and monetization rights of attention finally belong to you.

Human time should not be stolen by platforms.

In an era where attention can be tracked, every interaction is not "free labor" but a value contribution. Your voice, emotions, preferences are no longer just fuel for algorithms but part of your personal asset portfolio.

Token makes attention a tradeable asset. AI makes attention an agentable capability.

In the new era, you are not just a user but a builder and beneficiary of the attention economy.

Part 3: How do Tokens Coordinate the AI Agent Society?

I. New Issue: With the Rapid Increase in AI Agents, Who Will Coordinate Them?

With the proliferation of AI technology, everyone may have multiple AI agents:

• A time management agent that helps you schedule,

• A social agent that helps you make friends,

• A financial agent that invests,

• And even an agent that is your "emotional avatar."

But as the number of AI agents explodes, a new issue arises:

How do agents collaborate? Who allocates resources? How do we prevent agents from only working for centralized platforms rather than for the users themselves?

The answer is: The token mechanism, which is the "economic order hub" of the AI agent society.

2. Token: Not a Payment Method, but an "Order Operating System"

In a world dominated by Agents, a Token is not just a transaction currency, but a coordinator with the following multiple identities:

In other words, a Token is a collaboration currency in the Agent world + smart contract authorization + digital sovereignty credential.

3. The Four Pillars of the AI Agent Economy

1. Agent-as-a-Service

• Users can authorize others to use their trained Agents (e.g., fitness version, job search version, relationship conversation version)

• Users pay Tokens, and Agent owners receive a share of the payment

• This forms a new content economy of "personalized model IP + service packaging"

2. Agent Collaboration Chain

• Time management Agents can call calendar APIs + traffic Agents + chat records

• Collaboration depends on call permissions → settlement of call costs is done using Tokens

• Simulates the "enterprise + contract + settlement" structure in real society

3. Agent Development and Deployment Ecosystem

• Developers create Agent models and upload them to the marketplace

• Community votes on whether to go live → supports deployment with Tokens

• Agents generate revenue after running → reinvested back to developers, users, and infrastructure

4. Agent Reputation + Collateral Mechanism

• Each Agent has a reputation system

• Users can stake Tokens with Agents to "borrow computing power"

• If an Agent performs poorly or provides misleading outputs, a penalty mechanism is triggered

4. The Circular Landscape of Token+Agent

User → Training Data → Personalized Agent → Task Participation → Receive Token → Enhance Agent Capability → Benefit User's Life/Production

Ultimately, an AI Agent is not just a tool but an "extension of economic personality." You nurture it, it works for you, and you have rights to its share of profits and training.

Use Case: Composable "AI Microeconomy"

Extended Thought: User ≠ Single Role, but Multi-Agent Controller

The future user is not "one person to one platform" but "a group of Agents serving one person, with multiple Tokens forming the ecosystem." Users are like the steward of an AI team, where your time is the CEO, your Token is equity, and your Agent is an employee.

Token is not a Reward, but the Law and Dividend of the AI Society

If AI Agents are the "digital workforce" of the new era, then the Token mechanism is the "labor law + bonus system + shareholder governance protocol" of the new era.

It coordinates not the relationship between humans and machines but the new economic rules between machines and between AI and humans. This is the true core of the "Agent economy."

Part 4: Agent Personification — You are the Director and Shareholder Behind AI

I. We Created AI, but AI Actually Represents "Another You"

When AI Agents transition from tools to individuals, you will no longer be a user but rather its:

• Trainer (endowing it with your data and behavior)

• Director (defining the role it will play)

• Employer and Shareholder (deciding how it operates, who it collaborates with, and whose money it earns)

This is the essence of AI personification. An Agent is no longer a "general AI assistant" but:

Your digital extension — your personality, style, logic, choices embodied by an AI agent running on the blockchain.

II. Why Does an Agent Need "Personality"?

In a future filled with AI Agents, lacking personality means:

• Output content lacks style (difficult to differentiate)

• Communication with people lacks emotional consistency (users distrust)

• Unable to Establish Fan/Customer Relationship (Non-reusable)

So, "Personality" is not just about expression and tone, but:

• Worldview (How to understand things)

• Preferences (How to make choices)

• Tone (How to express)

• Purpose (Whom it represents)

Three, How is Personality Formed? A Trainable, Trustable, Replicable System

The formation process of an Agent's personality is as follows:

1. User Data Provision

Chat records, writing habits, voice emotions, lifestyle preferences...

2. Model Compression and Personalized Training

Train small models or fine-tune branches through mechanisms like LoRA, RAG, RLHF

3. Personality Encapsulation (Persona NFT or Profile Token)

This Agent can represent your "digital personality identity" in the form of a Token or NFT

4. Authorize Agent to Serve Others

You can choose to have it "work only for you" or "serve externally in your style" — earning Tokens

Example: AI Agent's Personality Evolution Path

• V1: Emotional Companion, understands your emotions and routines (private)

• V2: Lifestyle Advisory (customizable styles like "Sarcastic Influencer Sister," "Zen IT Guy")

• V3: Rentable Commercial Style Agent (e.g., "Pitch Deck Writing Expert Chief Editor")

These Agents possess the language style and thinking preferences you provide, as well as the right to use and profit from Tokens.

Four, Agent Personality Business Model: You are the Director and the "Shareholder"

You are not "someone who uses AI," but "an individual participating in the economy with AI" — you are the CEO of your own digital economy.

Use Case: The Multidimensional Value of Personalized Agent

An AI Agent is no longer just a tool but a mirror image of your "personality asset"

Web3 has solved the "programmable asset" problem, AI Agents have solved the "replicable behavior" problem, and Persona Agents address the "transformable existence" problem — you can project yourself to exist in multiple places simultaneously.

You are not using AI for writing, chatting, or recommendations; you are training yourself to become an AI persona version that can be economically scheduled and socially served.

Agent personification is the "personal brand" of the AI world and also the "microeconomic entity" of the new era of productivity.

You are no longer just a "user." You are: "the director of an AI Persona System, a participant in the Token economy, a co-creator of the new world."

Part 5: AI Hardware and Edge Devices — How to Capture Attention and Convert it into Tokens

Introduction: OpenAI's Hardware Strategy Arrives

On May 21, 2025, OpenAI announced its acquisition of the hardware startup io, founded by former Apple design chief Jony Ive, for about $6.5 billion, making it OpenAI's largest deal to date. Ive and his team will be deeply integrated with OpenAI's R&D and product teams to create an "iPhone-class" AI device, with the first product expected to be released in 2026, designed to "sit in a pocket or on a desk."

Sam Altman stated that this is "the coolest piece of technology ever created."

This strategic shift signifies that AI is no longer just intelligent models running in the cloud but rather integrating with hardware to become tangible assistants by people's sides.

1. Starting Point: AI Agents are Powerful, but Who Perceives the "Real World"?

AI Agents are powerful digital brains; they can write, generate content, plan tasks, and make suggestions.

But they lack one key thing: perception.

• They do not know if you are angry right now.

• They do not know you are walking on the streets wanting to strike up a conversation.

• They do not know if you saying "I'm tired" is a joke or a genuine emotional breakdown.

Without sensors, without a microphone, without live data, AI cannot truly understand you.

That's the significance of AI edge devices:

It serves as the "attention gateway," "data collector" connecting you to the AI world, and also as your "Agent sensory organ" in reality.

II. On-the-Go AI Hardware: Not a Microphone, but a "Tokenizable Emotional Gateway"

Functional Positioning

• Local voice capture (no cloud upload, ensuring privacy)

• Emotion recognition and wake word (e.g., wake word: "Hi Edgee!")

• On-chain data: recording speaking frequency, tone, keywords

• Bi-directional communication with AI Agent (control multiple Agent services)

Data Transformation Pathway

Voice data → Emotion understanding/Semantic parsing → User behavior tags → Generating Agent interactions → Issuing Token rewards

Security Attributes

• Data not uploaded to the cloud, Agent deployed on local AI hardware

• Optionally chain-hashed records to protect data sovereignty

• Users decide which "interactions" can be turned into tokenized assets

III. From "Speaking" to "Earning Tokens" – How Is Attention Captured?

Every conversation is not just talk but a record of a "Tokenized behavior" – your attention is seen, recorded, and rewarded.

Significance of AI Hardware Device as a "Real-World Capturer"

Part 6: From Tokens to Balance Sheets – Financial Model Design for AI Individuals

I. Why Does an AI Agent Need a "Financial Model"?

We have gradually built a new economic system with the Agent as the central role:

• Users no longer work directly, but instead delegate tasks to their Agent;

• Agents collaborate, create, communicate, and generate with other Agents;

• All these behaviors are related to Token incentives, resource scheduling, and revenue distribution.

So the question is:

If each Agent is a "digital economy," how should its financial system be designed?

II. Core Objectives of the Financial Model:

1. Record the Agent's cost structure (computing power/data retrieval/human oversight);

2. Track the sources of the Agent's income (task earnings/Token rewards/data sharing);

3. Evaluate the Agent's credit score and economic lifespan;

4. Build a "balance sheet" to achieve the governability, custodianship, and financialization of the Agent;

A simple financial composition diagram of an AI Agent:

Ultimately, an Agent-level Token balance sheet can be generated for user custody, DAO staking, or service outsourcing audit.

III. How Does the User View Themselves as an "Agent Owner"?

Each user can own multiple Agents, each of which can be seen as a "digital company," and its operational status should be clearly displayed to the user:

Agent Financial Dashboard (Concept)

• Monthly Expenditure: 1.2 U (including emotion recognition + speech summarization services);

• Monthly Income: 2.4 U (including speech task service fee + content reuse reward);

• Net Earnings: +1.2 U;

• Token Retention: 20% saved, 80% in user wallet;

• User Profit Share: 0.96 U (settled daily).

You are like operating a "digital subsidiary company," with these Agents earning money, learning, and building reputation on your behalf.

IV. Advanced Feature: Agent's "Financialization Pathway"

Ultimately, we can integrate an Agent's financial model into the DeFi ecosystem to achieve the following applications:

• NFT asset collateralized lending based on Agent revenue mapping;

• Agent income/expenditure data influencing a user's on-chain credit score;

• Aggregation of multiple Agent assets to form a user's "AI asset package."

Long-term significance: Agents can be stakeable, financeable, and bankruptable

In the future, you can imagine:

• A certain Agent, due to outstanding performance, being collectively owned by multiple community DAOs;

• A certain Agent being able to issue tokens, which users can use for its services → serving both as "consumption" and "investment";

• A certain Agent experiencing declining revenue and reputational collapse, being liquidated and having its IP and data reclaimed.

The core of the AI economy is not "how powerful AI is," but "whether AI can become a stable, transparent, and auditable individual" — this is the trust foundation brought by the financial structure. The balance sheet of the new era is not for the company to see, but for the symbiotic relationship between Agent and human to see. If you believe that AI Agents will become daily collaborators in the future, then you must establish a quantifiable, auditable, and monetizable digital financial model.

Only in this way:

• AI can be understood, trusted, and hired;

• Users can have clear "economic sovereignty" over AI agents;

• The entire AI economy can transition from storytelling to governance and value discovery.

Part 7: How does the Agent economy form DAO governance and identity hierarchy?

1. An Increasing Number of AI Agents Emerging, Needing to "Team Up" and "Organize"

When everyone has multiple AI Agents and authorizes them to participate in work for communities, businesses, and platforms, the following will occur:

• Numerous Agents will gather around certain domains (creativity, companionship, health, finance);

• Different Agents will collaborate frequently and call each other;<

• Some high-value Agents will become community-owned assets, and may even be traded as tokens.

2. DAO is not a Human-exclusive Organization, but a "Constitutional State" of the Agent Economy

Definition: What is an Agent DAO?

An Agent DAO is a decentralized organizational body with AI Agents as members, Tokens as the protocol language, and behavior collaboration as the main theme. It is not a DAO where "people meet and vote," but:

• Users train Agents → Agents perform tasks, make decisions, and share rewards;

• Different Agents collaborate through smart contracts;

• The DAO only defines collaboration rules, resource allocation logic, and Agent onboarding/punishment/governance mechanisms.

3. Structural Composition: The Three-tier Governance Structure of an Agent DAO

This structure supports the future:

• Users "build" their own Agent camps (similar to leading troops into battle);

• The community "hires" high-quality Agents for public tasks;

• The DAO allocates resources and rewards based on performance, reputation, and task completion.

4. Token is the "Organizational Language" of the Agent World

In this system, Tokens are not just incentives but:

1. Behavior Control Mechanism

￮ Whether an Agent can call a certain module → Requires staking a certain amount of Tokens

￮ Users must pay fees → Ensuring Agents are not abused

2. Contribution Calculation Mechanism

￮ Tokens record each Agent's task completion and revenue

￮ Automatically generate a "reputation score" → Determines the next scheduling priority

3. Voting Governance Mechanism

￮ High contributors have more Agent governance votes

￮ They can propose model modifications, add capability modules, and onboard new types of Agents

Example: Operational Scenario of an Agent DAO: Governance Organization of Content Creation Agents

This structure is like "a community collectively hiring a group of AI members to achieve goals, earn rewards, and enhance the ecosystem."

Multi-Identity = Multi-Agent Coordination System

In the future multi-agent society, users may assume multiple identities:

Five, DAO + Token + Agent, Forming the New Era's "Means of Production Trio"

We have bid farewell to the linear model of "Employment + Labor + Wage."

In an AI-dominated economic system, the new form of production relations is:

User trains Agent → Agent executes → Earnings shared with user → DAO determines Agent collaboration and resource allocation.

You are not a "company employee," you are a "governor of an AI micro-economy." You are not a "DAO member," you are a "director and stakeholder of a multi-agent ecosystem."

Part 8: The New Era's Personal Form—You + Agent + Device + Token = Digital Life Structure

One, a Fundamental Change: Humans are no longer isolated individuals

In the past social model, we were:

• One identity: Human citizen

• One account: Bank/social account

• One way of working: Exchanging labor for time and salary

But in the new era, the form of individuals has undergone a profound change:

You are no longer a person but a digital life form composed of Agent (intelligence), Device (sensors), Token (value), and Data (memory).

Two, The "Digital Individual Structure" Map of the New Era

• You are the controller: defining AI personality, choosing devices, authorizing actions.

• Agent is the proxy: understanding your preferences, performing tasks, maintaining identity.

• Device is the sensory system: sensing emotions, recording conversations, uploading data.

• Token is the economic system: coordinating value, measuring contribution, granting rights.

• DAO is the order system: governing the Agent ecosystem, defining cooperation rules.

Three, You No Longer "Do It Yourself," But "Build an AI Ecosystem Team to Assist Your Life"

Four, The Ultimate Form: You Are a "Sovereign Individual Intelligent System"

You are the controller, as well as the stakeholder, operator, and decision-maker of this ecosystem.

Previously: "You" = your own brain + phone + wallet

Now: "You" = Ontology + Agent Network + Local Data + Distributed Devices + On-chain Identity + Token Ownership

You have transitioned from "a tech user" to "a digital civilization node driven by technology and economics."

For example, a day in the life of a new era individual

This is not imagination, but an imminent reality.

Five Key Words of the New Individual Structure

Final Summary: Definition of the "Digital Individual" of the New Era

A truly modern individual is not a consumer of data but the main control node of an intelligent ecosystem.

You possess AI, devices, data, assets, identity, governance. You are your own platform, the director of a group of intelligent Agents, and the builder of an economic system. You are the productivity of the new era.