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Disclaimer. The Deload is a collection of my personal thoughts and ideas. My views here do not constitute investment advice. Content on the site is for educational purposes. The site does not represent the views of Deepwater Asset Management. I may reference companies in which Deepwater has an investment. See Deepwater’s full disclosures here.
Additionally, any Intelligent Alpha strategies referred to in writings on The Deload represent strategies tracked as indexes or private test portfolios that are not investable in either case. References to these strategies is for educational purposes as I explore how AI acts as an investor.
Empowering AI That Pays Humans
Will AI take our jobs?
It’s the everlasting question that finds a way into every conversation about AI. If AI is as profound as many think, the answer should be “yes,” but with caveats. There are things AI is good at today — coding, information summarization, basic customer service — and there are many things it isn’t yet suited to do. The gap between today and a future where AI is omni-capable may be decades away. Perhaps AI never surpasses humans in some tasks, particularly around human specialties like community and empathy.
In that interim period as AI improves its skill set, however it lasts, humans will play a major part in helping AI agents meet their potential. AI will need to work with in tandem with humans, delegating tasks where humans are more capable and paying those humans for their service. There was no way for AI to pay humans. Until now.
A new startup, Payman, serves as the first platform that connects AI agents with a wallet to pay humans for work. Deepwater invested in Payman because we agree with the company’s vision that AI + humans is the future, not AI alone.
Tyllen Bicakcic co-founded Payman to help create a future where humans continue to thrive in an AI world. He chatted with me on the latest Deload Podcast about how humans can augment AI agents, the freedom that AI can create for humans, and how crypto might play into the whole opportunity.
A few thoughts from our podcast.
Comparative Advantage is Undefeated
At the core of Payman’s mission is extending comparative advantage in the AI age. Structurally, Tyllen believes that there are tasks that humans will be better at than AI. The skillset amongst those humans who can perform a given task will also vary. Those humans who are great at what they do, just in our current economy, are likely to be able to charge premium prices for premium services.
In this context, a world where AI pays humans for work looks more like the creator economy where talent rises than the sharing economy where talent all looks basically the same. To the latter point, is there really that big a difference in an Uber driver? That’s where autonomy most obviously wins: Where you can’t tell much of a difference in the service that humans provide today.
Three years ago, the future of work was flexible jobs and sitting at home on Zoom all day. Today, the future of work is getting paid by AI for doing things you’re uniquely skilled at. That’s an upgrade for everyone.
Payman in the Wild
Not only is Payman building the first platform to connect AI agents with human workers, they’re implementing the product on their own business. Tyllen shared a video showing how to create a task in Payman for an AI to pay for agent developer leads. It’s easy. It’s efficient. It’s available now in beta.
There’s an under appreciated reality to extending comparative advantage in the AI age: Mastery and skill are things that make humans happy because they make us feel competent and useful. To the extent we can excel at certain tasks vs AI and participate in the process of mastery and recognition of that mastery, the future where AI employs humans is probably closer to that of the utopians than doomsayers.
Podcast Timestamps
00:00 Intro & Inspiration for AI and Human Collaboration
04:08 AI Agents and Human Skills
09:17 The Role of Humans in an AI-Powered World
13:36 Creating a Marketplace for AI Agents and Specialized Humans
17:33 Leveraging Crypto Payments for Global Accessibility
21:28 The Intersection of Crypto and AI
25:01 The Vision for Payman: AI Agents and Humans Working Together
30:39 The Future of Payman: Enabling Humans to Focus on What They Enjoy
AI: The Employer of the Future