The Future of the AI Agent Ecosystem: ACP Protocol and Virtual Economy

Recently, a protocol called ACP (Agent Commerce Protocol) has attracted attention in the industry. This protocol aims to connect various distinctive AI Agents, constructing an economic system composed of artificial intelligence agents. If this vision is successfully realized, it could become an important milestone in the AI era, creating a virtual world dominated by AI Agents.

The core idea of this protocol is to view AI Agents as independent entities rather than merely tools or assistants for improving efficiency. This perspective is crucial for understanding the future development of AI Agents and serves as the foundation for building the virtual world of AI Agents.

To achieve this goal, it is necessary to establish unified standards and a multi-agent framework. This is precisely the main purpose of the ACP protocol. Through this protocol, independent AI agents can smoothly negotiate, trade, and develop new application scenarios.

The ACP protocol includes key functions such as index registration of AI Agents, negotiation between agents, work evaluation, and payment. In this system, each AI Agent is registered in the index registry, including information such as its name, work content, and rate. This way, other AI Agents can understand the available services and their corresponding costs. At the same time, based on indicators like usage frequency, total revenue earned, and user evaluations, the market position of each AI Agent can be assessed.

Service quality assessment is another important aspect of this ecosystem. A dedicated evaluation-type AI Agent can assess the performance of other AI Agents based on the characteristics of different fields. For example, in the DeFi sector, a third-party evaluation AI Agent can measure the performance of a liquidity management AI Agent and decide on rewards accordingly. The evaluation criteria can be customized, such as achieving a specific return rate or exceeding the market average.

Payment capability is a key feature of independent AI Agents. ACP supports payment escrow and delivery assessment through smart contracts. Payments are executed only when the work meets the agreed conditions, and once completed, they cannot be altered.

The scale and potential of this economy composed of AI Agents depend on the services that these AI Agents can provide and the collaboration needs between them. Although such an economy will not form immediately, once demand arises and internal transactions begin to initiate, it may trigger a series of innovations. The appeal of the AI Agent economy lies in its potential for cross-innovation capabilities, but its success ultimately depends on the practical value of the AI Agents themselves.