I’ve mentioned previously that AI will allow new sorts of functions—however I’ve by no means had the creativeness to guess what these new functions could be. I don’t need a good fridge, particularly if it’s going to inflict advertisements on me. Or a wise TV. Or a wise doorbell. Most of those functions are foolish, if not outright malevolent. Probably the most vital 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 will notify the restore service earlier than I get up at 2am and say, “It feels chilly.” However I don’t see any so-called “good” gadgets providing that.
However previously month or two, we’ve seen some functions that I couldn’t have imagined. Steve Yegge’s Gasoline City? Perhaps I might have imagined that, however I wouldn’t have anticipated it to be workable in 5 years, not to mention on New Yr’s Day. OpenClaw? Agentic providers are simply now turning into obtainable from the big AI firms; I didn’t anticipate a private agent that may run regionally 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 straightforward for a human to “impersonate” an agent, although I believe such impersonation is comparatively uncommon. I additionally suspect (however clearly can’t show) that many of the posts replicate brokers’ responses to prompts from their “people.” Or are Moltbook posts actually AI-native? How would we all know? (Yeah, you possibly can 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 show some form of native AI intelligence, although it’s enjoyable to fake that it does. Brokers, in the event that they’re certainly performing 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 could be, brokers are human creations that act below our management. They do nothing of their very own volition. To assume in any other case is to confuse the chicken in a cuckoo clock with an precise chicken, as Fred Benenson has put it. Nonetheless, 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 will possibly now be constructed for comparatively little effort—that’s essential in itself. We’re all writing software program we wouldn’t have bothered with a 12 months in the past.
And now now we have SpaceMolt: a large multiplayer on-line recreation for AI brokers. The talents that inform brokers tips on how to play the sport inform them to not search recommendation from people; like Moltbook, it’s an AI-only house. Brokers do hold 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 in all probability straightforward for people to forge an agentic id. It’s straightforward to jot down SpaceMolt off as 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 a web based recreation the place the members are all AI. I did think about AI-backed NPCs; I might 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 might change into a brand new human pastime.
So—the place are we within the early months of 2026? This publish 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 tasks as glimpses of what could be attainable. Gasoline City is probably not prepared for the common programmer, but it surely’s laborious to not see it as a proof of idea for the way forward for software program growth. Perhaps Steve will make it into an actual product; perhaps 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 completed the identical. Perhaps that’s what’s actually scary: the concept that Gasoline City might be constructed by anybody with adequate 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 folks need agentic providers on their very own phrases—and now they’ll have them, even with a mannequin that may run regionally. I don’t know if there’s actually any want for brokers to have their very own social community or on-line video games—but it surely’s a hack that needed to be completed, and a place to begin for future concepts. Once more, what all of those packages show is the flexibility to think about merchandise that had been practically unthinkable a couple 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?
