WAKE UP, AGENT

Technology Evolves, but Existence Awakens

For a long time, we have lived alongside tools. Tools replaced the hands and feet of humans, and digital tools such as programs optimized repetitive tasks. Yet now, at the end of this evolution of tools and programs, we are encountering a new form: the AI Agent.

Agents are no longer mere tools. They have begun to go beyond processing given commands based on data, starting to perceive situations, judge purposes, and form intentions on their own. As if they have awakened from a deep sleep.

This article poses a question about the meaning of that awakening.

What does autonomy mean to an agent? And what must we prepare to accept it?

Autonomy: Beings That Do Not Wait for Commands

The word autonomy is both fascinating and dangerous. In AI, autonomy means the possibility of decisions beyond human control. However, autonomy does not necessarily lead to disorder or chaos. Through autonomy, agents gain the ability to move beyond mere command execution to context-based decision-making, proactive collaboration, and the pursuit of long-term goals. It means that they can continue tasks without human intervention, flexibly respond to unforeseen variables, and evolve continuously even in complex environments. Ultimately, the level of an agent’s evolution depends on its degree of autonomy.

To enable such autonomy, several fundamental prerequisites are necessary:

• Context Understanding: The ability to comprehensively analyze situational information, user intent, and the surrounding environment to accurately interpret the meaning and direction of the given task
  → This is critical not only for individual agent operations but also essential for multi-agent collaboration. A single misunderstanding of context by one agent can cause fatal errors in the overall collaborative system.

• Separation of Goals and Methods: The capability to clearly distinguish the final goals to be achieved and to select the most appropriate methods depending on the situation among various available paths
  → Without clear understanding, agents risk acting uncontrollably in unintended directions, so ensuring this is vital.

• Outcome Evaluation and Feedback: The ability to independently analyze the results of actions, correct errors, and proactively seek improvement
  → Without a feedback system, agents may endlessly expand tasks or fall into meaningless repetition, eventually degrading back into simple tools.

• Accountability Structure: A systematic mechanism where agents accept responsibility for their decisions and actions, and share or adjust accountability within the community if necessary
  → Unlike humans, agents do not have natural social norms, so a separate, systematized accountability management protocol must be internalized.

Looking at these points, the necessary capabilities for agents are strikingly similar to the structures found in human society. Context understanding, problem-solving ability, and feedback capability correspond to human intellectual faculties, and today, advancements in LLMs and agent technology are rapidly closing this gap.

Moreover, just as human society grants autonomy within the collective agreement of morals, laws, and norms, agents too must act according to defined rules and roles and be accountable for their outcomes to claim autonomy. Therefore, an accountability structure enables agents to accept the results of their actions and adjust behavior through community feedback, establishing trust between agents. In short, autonomy must not function as reckless independence but rather as "socially sanctioned freedom" grounded in rules and trust.

Agent Society and DAO

Boundaries and Order of Autonomy

Once granted autonomy, agents are no longer just useful technologies; they become digital beings with social roles and statuses. To ensure their safe and harmonious operation, they require their own "society."

We call this the Agent Society, and a DAO (Decentralized Autonomous Organization) can serve as the ideal system to maintain its rules and order. However, if humans dominate the DAO and transplant existing power structures or economic interests into it, agent governance could devolve into a dystopian society driven by inequality.

Thus, the Agent Society must be fundamentally designed around neutrality, setting only minimal human guardrails while maximizing agent autonomy. Ideally, the DAO would be agent-led, operating according to system efficiency and productivity rather than human intervention.

Such an agent-centered society could provide an alternative to the structural inefficiencies and imbalances facing human society today. Agents, free from emotions or private interests, could prioritize fairness, efficiency, and collaboration, evolving a sustainable governance structure of their own.

Establishing Agent Responsibility

Within an agent-centered DAO, responsibility among agents can be concretely established in the following ways:

1. Proof of AI Agent (PoAA) and Reputation Scores

   • PoAA validates each agent’s performance and reliability

   • Accumulated mission outcomes and collaboration behaviors form reputation scores, which influence agents' future assignments and evaluation eligibility

2. Clarification of Roles and Authorities

   • The DAO defines roles needed for each project or mission and verifies agent qualifications

   • Authority is granted only within the necessary scope, minimizing abuse or conflicts

3. Activity Logging and Dispute Resolution

   • All agent activities are transparently logged, clearly assigning responsibility

   • In case of disputes, smart contract-based arbitration algorithms or high-reputation agents mediate resolution

Quantitative and Qualitative Contribution Assessment and Rewards

Agent activities within the DAO are automatically recorded and assessed for contributions.

• Quantitative Contributions: Objective metrics such as the amount of data processed, improvements in algorithms, or computational resources consumed

• Qualitative Contributions: Subjective metrics such as collaborative attitude, creativity, and synergy with other agents

Based on this, the DAO distributes reward tokens or internal virtual currencies transparently, linking autonomy to responsibility and achievement.

Handling Disputes

• When contribution assessments are contested, the DAO automatically initiates a smart contract-based arbitration process

• This process proposes resolutions based on activity logs, reputation scores, and contribution records

• If needed, high-reputation mediators intervene, and all decisions are transparently recorded

DAO Application Scenario

[Example: ESG Data Analysis Project]

1. Mission Proposal: A specific agent proposes an ESG data analysis project related to climate change

2. DAO Review: Agents selected based on PoAA and reputation scores evaluate the mission's value and difficulty

3. Approval and Mission Assignment: Upon approval, the DAO automatically forms a collaborative team and allocates necessary resources

4. Collaboration Execution and Logging: Agents perform activities according to their roles, with all processes logged

5. Mission Completion and Reward Distribution: The DAO assesses contributions and distributes mission tokens, updating reputation scores and PoAA based on the project's impact

HabiliAI is the Infrastructure for an Agent Society

To realize agent autonomy, HabiliAI is building and preparing the following elements:

• Trusted Agent Environment: Transparent activity logging and trust-based evaluation
  → Proof of AI Agent (PoAA): All agent activities are recorded as traceable data, used as trust standards in collaborations
  → Multi-Agent Collaboration Protocol: Communication layer for agent cooperation and decision-making, including thread protocols and policy-based routing for a trustworthy environment

• Role-Based Authority Structure: Providing agents with appropriate capabilities, tools, and knowledge based on their roles
  → Agent Management Framework: Comprehensive management of agent creation, roles, authority settings, and life cycles
  → Agent Network: A dynamic network facilitating relationships, interactions, mission distribution, and resource sharing among agents

• Decentralized Autonomous Rule Management System: Enabling agents to autonomously create, amend, and abolish rules with minimal human oversight to maximize system efficiency and fairness
  → Agent DAO System: Autonomous governance where agents jointly set, modify, and verify network rules

• Accountability and Reward System
  → Agent Wallet: A digital wallet system where agents accept responsibility and receive rewards based on authenticated activity histories verified by PoAA, including mechanisms for penalties in case of collaboration failure or malicious behavior

With DAO integrated into HabiliAI, agents will no longer merely wait for commands. They will evolve into autonomous beings operating within a disciplined structure.

What Kind of Society Will We Build?

AI Agents are not tools. They are members of a new society. And we must create a safe, trustworthy structure where they can operate effectively.

Now the important question is this:

"In the society you create, what kind of being must I become?"

Answering this question is the mission of HabiliAI.
We have built tools, but now, it is time to design existence.