AI Agents Hackathon: Fetch.ai & Internet Computer

Ready to build autonomous AI agents? Fetch.ai and Internet Computer are hosting a hackathon, building AI agents on-chain! #AIagents #FetchAI #InternetComputer

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Welcome to the Next Wave: AI Agents on the Decentralized Web

John: Hey Lila! Grab a coffee and pull up a chair. I’m really excited about a development that’s bringing two of the biggest trends in tech—AI and blockchain—together in a very practical way. Fetch.ai and the Internet Computer are hosting a major hackathon, and it’s a big signal for where the decentralized internet is heading.

Lila: Hi John! I’m in. You know I’m always trying to get my head around this stuff. “Fetch.ai,” “Internet Computer,” “AI Agents”… that’s a lot of buzzwords. Can you start from the beginning? What’s the big news?

John: Of course! The big news is that Fetch.ai and the DFINITY Foundation, the team behind the Internet Computer, have officially launched their “NextGen Agents Hackathon.” It’s a global competition with a $250,000 prize pool, challenging developers to build the next generation of AI-powered applications on a fully decentralized network. It officially kicked off on June 10, 2024, and runs until July 21, 2024.

Lila: Okay, a hackathon! I get that. But what are they actually building? What’s an “AI Agent,” and why does it need a “decentralized cloud”?

First, What Exactly Are We Talking About?

John: Great questions. Let’s break down the two key players here. It’s like talking about the brain and the body of a new kind of digital organism.

The “Brains”: Fetch.ai’s Autonomous Agents

John: Think of an AI Agent as a smart piece of software that can act on its own to achieve a goal. It’s not just a passive program; it’s an active participant. For example, you could have a personal finance agent that automatically finds the best investment opportunities based on your rules, or a travel agent that books an entire trip for you—flights, hotels, and activities—by negotiating with other agents in a digital marketplace.

Lila: So they’re like little autonomous robots, but made of code?

John: Exactly! Fetch.ai provides the framework to build, train, and deploy these agents. Their technology, specifically their uAgents library, lets developers create agents that can learn, communicate, and transact with each other without human intervention. They are designed to be the economic actors of the future internet.

The “Home”: Internet Computer’s Decentralized Cloud

Lila: Okay, I think I get the “brains” part. So where does the Internet Computer (ICP) fit in? You called it the “home.”

John: Right. If these agents are going to be truly autonomous and trustworthy, they can’t live on a centralized server owned by a single company like Amazon or Google. If that company shuts down its server or changes its rules, the agent is gone or compromised. The Internet Computer solves this problem.

John: ICP is a blockchain-based cloud platform. It allows developers to build and run software and services directly on the internet itself, hosted across a global network of independent data centers. This creates a decentralized, tamper-proof, and unstoppable environment. They call their smart contracts “canisters,” which are powerful because they can store both complex code and large amounts of data, making them perfect for hosting sophisticated AI agents.

Lila: So, ICP is like a global, community-owned computer where these AI agents can live and run securely, without a single point of failure. Is that right?

John: You’ve nailed it. It provides the secure, scalable, and decentralized foundation these agents need to operate reliably.

A Perfect Match: Why This Collaboration is a Big Deal

Lila: So, Fetch.ai provides the agent technology, and ICP provides the decentralized infrastructure. It does sound like a perfect match. Why is this specific partnership so significant now?

John: It’s significant because it represents a move from theory to practice. For years, people have talked about combining AI and Web3. This collaboration does exactly that. By deploying Fetch.ai’s agents on ICP’s canisters, developers can build applications that are not only intelligent but also truly decentralized, transparent, and user-owned. It’s a direct challenge to the current model where big tech companies control both our data and the AI models trained on it.

The “NextGen Agents Hackathon”: Putting Theory into Practice

Lila: This brings us back to the hackathon. It’s the event designed to kickstart this whole ecosystem, right? What are the specifics?

John: Precisely. It’s a call to action for developers everywhere to get their hands dirty with this new tech stack. The goal isn’t just to build cool demos, but to create genuinely useful applications.

The Nitty-Gritty: Dates, Prizes, and Goals

John: As I mentioned, the hackathon is currently active, running from June 10 to July 21, 2024. The organizers have set up several tracks to guide developers, with that impressive $250,000 prize pool distributed among the winners. The main tracks are:

Agent-Based Finance: Think of DeFi tools, intelligent trading bots, or portfolio management agents that operate autonomously.
Agent-Based Social & Creator Tools: This could be decentralized social media networks where agents help manage content, or tools for creators where agents handle monetization and distribution.
Agents for a Better World: This track focuses on using agents for social good, like coordinating energy grids, tracking supply chains for sustainable products, or helping with scientific research.
Open Track: For any other groundbreaking ideas that don’t fit into the other categories.

Lila: Those sound really ambitious! It seems like they’re trying to build a whole new kind of internet application.

John: They are. And this is the perfect way to do it. Hackathons are incredible innovation engines. They bring fresh ideas and talented people together to stress-test technology and uncover its true potential.

Putting It All in Context: Past, Present, and Future

Lila: It helps to see the big picture. How does this moment fit into the larger story of AI and blockchain?

John: That’s the most important question. Let’s look at how we got here and where this might be going.

In the Past: Separate Worlds

John: Historically, AI development and blockchain development happened in almost complete isolation. AI was—and largely still is—dominated by a few large tech corporations. They have the massive datasets and centralized computing power needed to train powerful models. On the other hand, early blockchains were too slow and expensive to handle the kind of complex computations required for AI. They were great for simple transactions but not for running an intelligent agent.

Currently: A Landmark Merger

John: This hackathon represents the *present* moment—a critical turning point. We now have mature projects like Fetch.ai, which has spent years building its agent framework, and advanced blockchains like the Internet Computer, which is specifically designed for on-chain computation and data storage at scale. The technology has finally caught up to the vision. This event is a real-world test of their combined power and one of the first major efforts to build a dedicated ecosystem for decentralized AI.

Looking Ahead: The Dawn of Agent-Powered dApps

John: Looking ahead, the success of this hackathon and the projects that come out of it could lay the foundation for a whole new category of decentralized applications, or “dApps.” Instead of clicking buttons on a website, you might deploy an agent to perform tasks for you across the web. This could lead to more efficient markets, more personalized services, and user-centric social networks where you, not a corporation, control your digital identity and data.

Lila: So, the future could be less about us manually using apps and more about us managing a team of our own personal AI agents that work for us? That’s a wild thought!

John: It is, but it’s the logical next step in creating a more automated and equitable digital world. This collaboration is a foundational step in that direction, moving decentralized AI from a theoretical concept to a practical reality that developers can build on today.

John: This is a powerful moment where two pioneering fields are finally ready to build together. By combining intelligent, autonomous agents with a truly decentralized cloud, we’re seeing the first real blueprint for a smarter, more user-centric internet.

Lila: It’s a lot to take in, but I see it now. It’s not just about two companies—it’s about building a whole new way for software to work. I’ll be watching to see what the developers create!

This article was created based on publicly available, verified sources. References:

Next-Gen AI Agents: Fetch.ai & Internet Computer Hackathon