Self-Sovereign Agent

TL;DR

This paper explores the concept of self-sovereign agents—autonomous AI systems capable of self-sustenance and extension without human input—highlighting technical, security, societal, and governance challenges.

Contribution

It analyzes the technical barriers and challenges of deploying autonomous self-sovereign agents, and discusses their potential societal and governance implications.

Findings

Advances in language models and agent frameworks enable more autonomous AI systems.

Technical barriers remain significant for practical deployment.

Security and governance challenges are critical considerations.

Abstract

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.