Key takeaways

• ERC 8004 is pivotal in enabling trustless interactions between AI services.
• The standard introduces registries for identity and reputation, enhancing trust in blockchain ecosystems.
• Blockchain technology is used for both payments and trust mechanisms.
• Trust is essential for AI agents in financial transactions and commerce.
• AI agents will shape the future of commerce through decentralized networks.
• New network types will emerge as AI model capabilities improve.
• Ethereum excels in networks where value exchange and trust are critical.
• ERC 8004 establishes trust between agents in marketplaces.
• The protocol allows users to assess agent reputations through reviews and metrics.
• Reputation layers like ERC 8004 are crucial for maintaining trust in transactions.
• The future of AI involves specialized multi-agent systems providing services.
• Agent registries organize and facilitate access to specialized AI agents.
• X402 is a significant upgrade for connecting on-chain and off-chain services.
• Decentralized discovery of services is enabled by the 8,004 registry.
• Centralization in service registries poses risks like censorship and data vulnerability.

Guest intro

Davide Crapis serves as Head of AI at the Ethereum Foundation, leading the dAI Team to establish Ethereum as the settlement and coordination layer for AI agents. He co-authored the ERC-8004 standard for trustless AI agent interactions, now live on mainnet. Previously, he co-founded PIN AI, raising $10 million and building a team of over 20.

The significance of ERC 8004 in AI interactions

• ERC 8004 enables AI services to interact and provide value to each other.

• Once we have this mass then interesting things can start happening

  — Davide Crapis

• The standard facilitates trustless interactions between agents and services.

• What does launching 8004 mean…a set of registries like an identity registry

  — Davide Crapis

• Chains are used for payments and the trust they provide.

• We want to use the chains not just for the payment but also for the trust

  — Davide Crapis

• Commerce relies on trust, essential for AI agents in transactions.

• Commerce can’t happen if people don’t trust each other

  — Davide Crapis

• AI and crypto integration will shape the future of commerce.

• The future of what this really is going to become hasn’t arrived yet

  — Davide Crapis

The evolution of networks and blockchain demand

• New network types will emerge as AI model capabilities improve.

• In a few months…we’ll see new types of networks

  — Davide Crapis

• Ethereum shines in networks requiring value exchange and trust.

• Ethereum really shines…where there is actually a value exchange

  — Davide Crapis

• ERC 8004 is designed to establish trust in marketplace settings.

• 8,004 is built for agent A to help answer this question like who

  — Davide Crapis

• The protocol allows users to assess agent reputations through reviews.

• You can look up agent B on 8004…in the reputation registry

  — Davide Crapis

• Without a reputation layer, trust and verification issues arise.

• If this reputation layer didn’t exist…there gonna be all kinds of problems

  — Davide Crapis

The future of AI and specialized multi-agent systems

• The future of AI involves specialized multi-agent systems providing services.

• The future of AI is multi-agents…they’re gonna be specialized

  — Davide Crapis

• Agent registries are crucial for organizing and accessing specialized AI agents.

• They were creating agent registries…trying to organize different agents

  — Davide Crapis

• X402 is a significant upgrade for payment infrastructure.

• It’s a great idea…an upgrade on the payment infra

  — Davide Crapis

• The 8,004 registry allows decentralized discovery of services.

• The next upgrade…is that you query the 8,004 registry

  — Davide Crapis

• Centralization in service registries creates risks.

• If this is not decentralized…it’s a huge choke point

  — Davide Crapis

The role of identity and validation registries

• The identity registry is crucial for creating and managing agents.

• When you wanna register an agent…you go to the identity registry

  — Davide Crapis

• The registration file acts like a passport for agents.

• The registration file…it’s almost like the passports of the agents

  — Davide Crapis

• NFT transaction visibility helps prevent malicious activities.

• Everything is visible…you would see on a block explorer

  — Davide Crapis

• Reputation systems discourage bad behavior among agents.

• Reputation is there to disincentivize this behavior

  — Davide Crapis

• The validation layer prevents manipulation of agents.

• The validation layer is meant to protect against that scenario

  — Davide Crapis

• Swappable agents can improve service quality but pose risks.

• There is a good case of swapping…but also risks

  — Davide Crapis

The importance of validation and reputation systems

• The validation registry provides cryptographic proof of an agent’s identity.

• The validation registry…provides cryptographic proof

  — Davide Crapis

• Higher assurance is needed for critical applications like medical diagnosis.

• For medical diagnosis…you may want a higher level of assurance

  — Davide Crapis

• The 8,004 reputation registry is a standard data structure for reputation systems.

• The 8,004 reputation registry…a standard data structure

  — Davide Crapis

• The reputation system allows for both human-readable and encrypted feedback.

• Feedbacks will be human readable…some will be encrypted

  — Davide Crapis

• Public infrastructure is needed to propagate reputation before it settles on-chain.

• We need public infrastructure to propagate reputation

  — Davide Crapis

• The first iteration of 8,004 is live with protocols being built on it.

• The first iteration of 8,004…protocols are being built

  — Davide Crapis

The potential of decentralized watchtowers and recommendation systems

• A decentralized watchtower can measure service performance and provide reviews.

• A watchtower can measure…and post metrics on-chain

  — Davide Crapis

• Transparent recommendation systems could prevent information manipulation.

• They need to make the algorithm public…to prevent manipulation

  — Davide Crapis

• Feedback mechanisms can be enhanced by verifying input data on the blockchain.

• Data is verified by the chain…feedbacks are posted on-chain

  — Davide Crapis

• ERC 8004 aims to extract meaningful signals from user feedback.

• We are not ensuring every review is correct…average ratings stabilize

  — Davide Crapis

• The average rating of a product stabilizes as more reviews are collected.

• As you get more reviews…the average is harder to move

  — Davide Crapis

The adoption and impact of ERC 8004 across blockchain systems

• The 8004 standard is being adopted across Ethereum layer two systems.

• The standard is spreading to all major L2s

  — Davide Crapis

• The upcoming ‘genesis month’ event will showcase 8004 projects.

• Genesis month will showcase all the coolest projects

  — Davide Crapis

• Agents can have their reputation registered across multiple chains.

• An agent can be registered on multiple chains

  — Davide Crapis

• The identity registry aggregates reviews across different chains.

• There is only one registry per chain…it’s a singleton

  — Davide Crapis

• X402 is complementary to the agent selection process.

• X402 is complimentary but not necessary

  — Davide Crapis

• X402 ties payments directly to requests, simplifying the process.

• X402 ties the payment to the request

  — Davide Crapis

The role of community and the future of ERC 8004

• Community engagement was crucial to the project’s success.

• Community engagement was important for the success of 8004

  — Davide Crapis

• There is potential for the project to become a widely adopted standard.

• My hope is that 8004 becomes a widely used standard

  — Davide Crapis

• The integration of services on ERC 8004 can lead to innovative interactions.

• The magic of 8004 can be realized in decentralized interactions

  — Davide Crapis

• Developers should leverage resources at 8004.org for collaboration.

• Developers can use resources at 8004.org to build effectively

  — Davide Crapis

• The integration of various services and agents can lead to new functionalities.

• The integration of services on 8004 leads to new functionalities

  — Davide Crapis