What AI agents and blockchain technology in a “post-web” world mean for the tech-savvy Middle East

RIYADH: As blockchain technology and cryptocurrencies push the Internet towards decentralization, the shift from Web 3.0 to Post Web is currently underway. With a young, tech-savvy population and significant investments in advanced technologies, the Middle East is ripe for early adoption.

Building on this vision of a self-regulating, user-centric Internet, Outlier Ventures, a London-based venture capital firm and accelerator specializing in Web3 and blockchain systems, has announced the launch of the “Post-Web Thesis.”

As predicted in Outlier Ventures’ 2016 “Convergence Thesis,” advances in AI are merging with Web3 infrastructure to simplify the latter’s complexity.

Intuitive interfaces and automation now manage tasks like transaction signing, handling fees, and bridging chains, making digital property rights and Web3 applications – or decentralized applications – more accessible and scalable through delegation.

“AI agents can now serve users by acting on their intentions with a combination of deterministic accuracy and adaptive flexibility through highly contextual experiences,” Jamie Burke, CEO and founder of Outlier Ventures, told Arab News.

“In essence, in Post Web, users will not only read, write and own, but will also have the ability to delegate.”

An AI agent is an intelligent, autonomous, AI-powered program to interpret intent, gather context, and execute tasks across decentralized networks, either autonomously or on behalf of users, with varying degrees of sovereignty, Burke says.

These agents will initially handle simple tasks, such as booking appointments, but can gain economic power over time by interacting with distributed ledger technology such as blockchain, enabling users to perform tasks without a central authority.

Burke highlighted the Middle East and North Africa as a prime candidate region for early adoption of the postal network, citing its young, tech-savvy population and significant investments in advanced technologies.

He said the region’s advantages could position it as a global hub for innovation and development in the post-web field.

Web3 defines the “read, write and own” era of the Web. Its original goal was to create a decentralized internet using blockchain technology, giving users digital property rights and greater control over their data and assets.

Unlike Web 2.0’s reliance on centralized platforms, Web 3, the latest evolution of the World Wide Web since Tim Berners-Lee created it in 1989, leverages blockchain technology to enable peer-to-peer interactions without intermediaries.

“Web3’s promise was to ‘unbundle’ the centralized platforms of the Web2 era, promoting greater control for users and peer-to-peer economic interactions,” Burke said.

“But a decade later, we can see that mass adoption of its applications would not be possible in its current form, because even though it was a functional upgrade for the Internet, ultimately Web3 was still unusable for the majority of Internet people. “

This paves the way for the “post-Web thesis,” which examines how the convergence of Web3 and artificial intelligence could change the Internet.

Rather than operating within the constraints of the “attention economy,” this new paradigm envisions a shift toward the “intent economy” – an economy where user purpose and goals drive engagement and value creation.

“This shift will reimagine the web, moving from current human-centric interactions to a world where machines and autonomous agents act on our behalf through intent-based architectures,” Burke said.

This means that in the near future, much of the consumer Internet could be outsourced to intelligent agents that bypass search engines and price comparison sites and apps, and instead access APIs and other agents directly to find information and compare services.

Post Web’s goal economy seeks to prioritize users’ needs by seamlessly aligning their goals with counterparties through dynamic, contextual interfaces. This approach enables more valuable interactions while reducing waste and minimizing exploitation.

“This represents a profound shift toward an Internet that organizes itself around solving real user needs, rather than inadvertently hogging attention,” Burke said.

“We still believe that humans will interact with the web, but instead of spending hours researching, say, the best insurance or flights for a holiday, time will be spent on much more enriching interactions that people enjoy doing their shopping via social media and gaming.” And one-stop shopping.”

As AI agents handle most transactional activities and routine tasks in the background, the traditional web will largely fade away, making way for the “thin web.”

Inspired by Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs, this simplified grid provides different levels of immersion based on users’ personal and environmental contexts.

One simple example of how Post Web can transform online experiences is booking a family vacation.

Traditional websites are often cluttered with advertisements for packages that do not fully meet a family’s needs, forcing users to make hasty or suboptimal decisions. Search engines, driven by optimization practices, often prioritize results based on rankings rather than quality.

“Paid advertising and manipulation of organic rankings through search optimization often overwhelm users,” Burke said.

“Although price comparison sites may seem like an alternative, these platforms also complicate matters. They typically prioritize results based on auction placements, and comparisons are rarely on a like-for-like basis.

If a user is purchasing vacation insurance for a family with diverse ages and interests, the basic plan may not cover an advanced diver, a beginner, or another child who prefers surfing.

The more multidimensional and diverse the trip, the more complex and time-consuming the planning becomes.

In intentional economics, an AI agent compares policies across multiple dimensions, such as activity-specific payment and coverage structures and unique risk factors, Burke said.

“For example, they can recommend a product specifically designed for a family with an experienced diver and a novice diver, taking into account skill level, diving conditions based on weather reports, and other nuances to ensure optimal coverage.”

In terms of cost effectiveness, Burke says Post Web eliminates inefficiencies in the consumer Internet and “software as a service” sectors. It removes unnecessary intermediaries and aligns the results with the user’s needs, resulting in faster, cheaper and better solutions.

By enabling sellers to reach users without relying on intermittent advertising, it reduces costs for both buyers and sellers.

AI agents optimize the technology stack — compute, storage, and networking — and replace inefficient centralized cloud systems. This benefits users and sellers but represents a huge loss for platforms that benefit from the attention economy.

In addition to being a more cost-effective solution, the post-web will lead to what Burke calls a “super cycle.”

Burke believes these technologies will lead to widespread adoption, bringing billions of users and real-world assets onto the chain. This represents a valuable investment opportunity in digital assets, which will become crucial to the operation of the Internet and its virtual supply chains.

Since these assets would reflect real-world supply and demand, they could be analyzed like traditional commodities, paving the way for billions of dollars in institutional and retail investments through exchange-traded funds and stock market indices.

“It is important to see the transition to a post-web as a vision that will evolve and adapt over time,” he said.

“Web3 was first introduced 10 years ago, and while we share our vision for Post Web now, we see this as an evolution that will evolve over the next 10 years.

“During this time, the Web as we know it will continue to evolve as AI agents manage more and more tasks on behalf of users, and the most relevant technologies will converge on the Post Web, but other technologies will become obsolete such as the App Store and Search.”