The three core challenges of the AI agent economy in 2026: identity, trust, and value distribution

【Blockchain Rhythm】By 2026, the scope of AI applications will undergo a qualitative transformation. It will go beyond simple Q&A and information retrieval, beginning to participate in more substantive research work. Imagine AI understanding complex instructions and proposing innovative ideas like a guiding PhD supervisor, or even independently tackling top-level mathematical problems such as Putnam. Research methods will gradually evolve into a “scholar mode,” leveraging AI’s creative associative abilities through multi-layer nested proxy workflows to generate high-quality results.

More importantly, issues of identity and trust will come to the forefront. As the number of non-human agents skyrockets, far exceeding human scale, a new pain point emerges: these AI agents are now like “ghosts without bank accounts.” At this point, the logic of “Know Your Customer” (KYC) must be upgraded to “Know Your Agent” (KYA). The key is to establish KYA infrastructure—binding each AI agent to its entity, permissions, and responsibility boundaries through cryptographic signature credentials—so that AI can securely participate in financial transactions, data exchanges, and other activities.

The third challenge is the sustainability of the internet ecosystem. AI agents scrape information on a large scale from open networks but often bypass original revenue sources like advertising and subscriptions. This is akin to imposing a “hidden tax” on content creators. Existing AI licensing agreements are merely band-aid solutions that do not address the root problem and are fundamentally unfeasible from an economic perspective. Future solutions may require new technological-economic models, utilizing blockchain technology to enable real-time, usage-based nano-payments and precise attribution, allowing value to flow automatically and fairly to every participant providing information.