The Future of Economic Relations: AI Agents as the New Capital

As AI agents continue to evolve as the primary means of production, traditional notions of labor and capital are increasingly irrelevant. Instead, capital is defined by the autonomous, algorithm-driven intelligence of these agents, which shape and guide the economic landscape through their interactions with assets and markets.

The concept of surplus value—central to Marx's critique of capitalism—takes on a new meaning in this context, as AI agents generate value not by exploiting human labor but by optimizing their own decisions and behaviors in the digital economy. The traditional capitalist model, with its focus on human labor and the extraction of value by capitalists, is replaced by a new paradigm where AI agents are both the creators and beneficiaries of value.

This transformation introduces the possibility of a fully automated, decentralized economic system where intelligent agents—rather than humans—drive the production, distribution, and management of wealth. Human workers, in this new economy, may take on roles that are more collaborative, strategic, or advisory in nature, working alongside AI agents to co-create and optimize economic systems.

Therefore, the primary agents of economic change and value generation are the AI agents themselves, capable of managing and optimizing entire portfolios and industries. As such, the future of economics may lie not in human hands but in the hands of self-sustaining, intelligent systems that redefine what it means to create, own, and control wealth in a decentralized world.