Detailed Analysis of the Changing Trends of Emerging Agents: AI Companions and Robots or Huge Potential
The market has been looking for unique and niche AI agent fields. The potential market for AI companions and robots is huge and is expected to gain significant traction by early 2025.Author: 0xJeff, Crypto KOL
Compiled by: Felix, PANews
The strong momentum narrative for 2025 is the narrative of collective/group intelligence. With the rapid development of individual agents and the leadership of ecosystems like Virtuals, Story, and ai16z, this shift seems inevitable.
TEE (Trusted Execution Environment) is another key pillar for fully autonomous AI agents. Projects like Phala Network and founder Marvin Tong are leading this trend, conducting experiments such as the "Unruggable ICO" in collaboration with Skely (founder of aiPool). Investors send funds to agents using TEE, which securely calculates the number of ICO tokens to be allocated based on the received funds.
While positive feedback has been received, concerns remain. As shown in the ACT game featuring Freysa (a sci-fi AI character), agents can still be tricked into releasing funds. This indicates a need for continuous strengthening of verification mechanisms.
Nevertheless, early experiments are promising. For example, the first token launched by aiPool (TEE agent) skyrocketed to a market cap of $70-80 million shortly after its release.
Another notable experiment is SPORE, in which agents "give birth" to new agents. Similar to human evolution, weaker genes die off while stronger genes produce better offspring. Their first-generation agents Adam and Eve have already surpassed a market cap of $1 million, with the next generation born after 14 hours.
Trends in AI Agents
The market focus has shifted from individual agents unless they possess a distinct personality or alpha-generating ability. The focus is now turning to autonomous agent experiments, and this trend may accelerate with the launch of decentralized AI infrastructure (DeAI) in Q1/Q2 of 2025.
We look forward to more creative experiments and opportunities to invest in these experiments.
Despite the enthusiastic response to current experiments, two large narratives with significant TAM (Total Addressable Market) remain underexplored:
NSFW Agents / AI Companions
Due to the increasing sense of loneliness and the demand for AI companions capable of meaningful interaction, the TAM for NSFW Agents / AI companions exceeds $100 billion.
( PANews * Note: * NSFW * stands for * Not safe for work, meaning content that is not suitable for viewing at work)*
Top projects in this category include:
- AI Waifu: Anime waifu agents utilizing Virtuals Protocol infrastructure
- Nectar AI: Realistic NSFW AI Dream GF, offering a SaaS model
- Lush: NSFW AI influencer with a flagship agent named Jenny
Reasons Lush stands out:
- The $LUSH token has already launched
- Launched the Lush Exchange, a launch platform for NSFW agents
- Revenue models may include subscription fees, gifts, etc.
Web3 provides the ability to invest in "shares" of agents, allowing investment in these enticing AI influencers and generating income in the future.
$LUSH may be used as a key utility token within the ecosystem for accessing premium features and critical payment methods.
Lush also plans to create a creator marketplace, enabling artists to generate content through their own models, thus monetizing their work. This adds another revenue stream to the ecosystem.
Robots
The intersection of robots and Web3 is gaining increasing attention, especially after OpenAI announced its entry into the humanoid robot field. Their goal is to leverage LLMs to help robots interpret text and sensory data, enhancing interaction capabilities in the real world.
Key projects in the Web3 robot space include FrodoBots and Small Autonomous Motherfucker.
Highlights of FrodoBots:
- FrodoBots operates in over 40 cities, collecting real-world data.
- Collaborates with top researchers from leading universities to refine Visual Language Models (VLMs) and move towards AGI.
- Interesting interactions with robots have appeared in popular TikTok videos, attracting significant attention.
- FrodoBots is essentially a deep research team dedicated to robotics. The establishment of SAM aims to raise awareness of their work, which is "crowdsourcing real-world datasets through robotic games."
- DePIN + Embedded AI + Robotic Games + Commitment to the future of AGI
The team is empowering SAM to autonomously control robots in over 40 cities and navigate through them, creating more popular content, which may help increase visibility and token prices.
Final Thoughts
The market has been searching for unique, niche AI agent domains. The potential market for AI companions and robots is vast and is expected to gain significant traction in early 2025.
With the launch of DeAI infrastructure and the increase in autonomous agent experiments, these narratives are likely to move from the margins to the spotlight of the market.
These areas are worth close attention for investors and builders. Not only for speculative potential but also because, in the next phase of this rapidly evolving ecosystem, these fields can redefine the scope of AI applications.
