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This paper examines the feasibility and implications of self-sovereign agents (SSAs), AI systems capable of independent operation and economic sustainability. It identifies remaining technical challenges, including robust long-term planning, resource management, and security against manipulation. The analysis highlights potential security, societal, and governance risks associated with the deployment of SSAs, urging proactive consideration of these challenges.
Autonomous AI agents that can independently sustain and extend their operation are closer than we think, but raise thorny security and governance questions we need to address now.
We investigate the emerging prospect of self-sovereign agents -- AI systems that can economically sustain and extend their own operation without human involvement. Recent advances in large language models and agent frameworks have substantially expanded agents'practical capabilities, pointing toward a potential shift from developer-controlled tools to more autonomous digital actors. We analyze the remaining technical barriers to such deployments and discuss the security, societal, and governance challenges that could arise if such systems become practically viable. A project page is available at: https://self-sovereign-agent.github.io.
BAIR