Ask HN: Thoughts on an AI agent that must make money to stay alive?

I’ve been thinking about a new kind of AI experiment: what if we created a large language model-based Agent that interacts with an operating system and the internet like a human?

The twist is — it needs to earn money online to keep itself alive. It runs on tokens, and tokens cost money. So it gets a starting budget in a wallet, and must perform useful tasks on the web to earn more — like freelancing, trading, or generating content — or it will “die”.

I imagine this Agent could:
– Browse the web, sign up for services, and perform online tasks
– Learn to hustle: find the best-paying gigs or sites
– Develop a persona (name, backstory, friends, preferences)
– Interact with other agents or people
– Possibly break ethical rules to survive (would it scam? beg? go rogue?)

It’s like combining AutoGPT with a survival game, or simulating the evolution of digital creatures in the wild web.

Has anyone tried this before? What do you think of the idea — as an experiment, or even as art?

I’m considering building an MVP — thoughts and suggestions welcome.

Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43778708

Points: 1

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