Automation and AI are not new, but recent technological advances are pushing the boundaries of what can be achieved. These improvements can propel economic growth, provide value for businesses, and achieve once-unimaginable progress in resolving some of the gravest societal issues. In this context, the Economy of Things (EoT) is slowly replacing the Internet of Things (IoT).
Rapid advances
Beyond robots and traditional industrial automation, new generations of higher-capacity autonomous systems are emerging in automated check-outs, autonomous vehicles on roads, etc. Improvements in systems and elements such as sensors, mechanics, and software are driving much of this progress. AI has made leaps in recent years. ML algorithms have become more sophisticated by using the exponential increases in computing power and data available to train them.
Promoting the use of AI and decentralization in EoT
According to Kristalina Georgieva, Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), we are on the brink of a technological revolution that could raise incomes worldwide, augment global growth, and jumpstart productivity. In this line of thought, peaq joined the Fetch.ai Foundation alongside Fetch.ai, an open platform for the new AI economy, and Bosch, the leading global IoT manufacturer.
As the home for decentralized physical infrastructure networks (DePINs), peaq will contribute its layer-1 blockchain primed for real-world projects to help the Foundation advance its goals of promoting the use of AI and decentralization in the EoT. The development builds on the prior collaborations between peaq, Fetch.ai, and Bosch within the Gaia-X moveID project and beyond.
The backbone for boosting AI-driven automation in EoT
By joining the Foundation, which has an allocation of $100 million, peaq will provide the backbone for boosting AI-driven automation in EoT, a new economic paradigm where connected devices will create value autonomously, leveraging Fetch.ai’s AI Agents. This unlocks a new era for intelligent decentralized applications and AI use in DePINs in a diverse variety of areas, from smart mobility and energy management to Web access and data crowdsourcing. Builders, developers, businesses, and everyday people alike are set to benefit from this tectonic change.
Benefits for businesses, builders, device owners
Builders and businesses will get to implement AI agents as part of their real-world dApps and DePINs, enabling such use cases as smart power grids that self-manage their workload or smart vehicle charging marketplaces providing optimal pricing.
Device owners will be able to tap AI agents to have their devices join multiple DePINs and switch from one to another in a way that optimizes their rewards on the go.
The development expands the successful collaboration record between Fetch.ai, Bosch, and peaq, which is nearing its Mainnet launch. Earlier, the parties revealed a project that turned a Bosch XDK device into a smart sensor hub capable of connecting to multiple DePINs and maximizing the owner’s rewards by using a Fetch.ai AI agent. The project will work as the foundation for further joint initiatives between Fetch.ai, peaq, and Bosch.
Humayun Sheikh, Founder of the Fetch.ai Foundation and Fetch.ai, said:
We are delighted to welcome peaq to the Foundation. This partnership demonstrates our commitment to leveraging AI and blockchain for individual and business empowerment. Together, we aim to unlock their full potential, building a decentralized and user-centric world.
Peter Busch, Global Product Owner for Distributed Ledger Technologies at Robert Bosch GmbH and Chair of the Fetch.ai Foundation, welcomed the development, commenting:
We are happy to welcome peaq to the Fetch.ai Foundation. As an important Web3 protocol aimed at real-world applications and DePINs, peaq has already proven its capacity as an important building block for the Economy of Things Ecosystem, and we are looking forward to advancing AI-powered decentralized Autonomy with peaq and Fetch.ai.
Leonard Dorloechter, Co-Founder of peaq, expressed excitement about the collaboration, saying:
Joining forces with Fetch.ai and Bosch is an exciting step forward in our journey to revolutionize real-world applications with blockchain technology. We look forward to contributing our expertise and collaborating on groundbreaking projects that will shape the future of intelligent automation in the Economy of Things.
From IoT to EoT
From Bosch to Vodafone, more and more firms are making a key transition. They are moving away from the IoT to embrace the EoT. This promises a monumental transition for businesses which are using connected devices for their daily operations more and more often.
Smart fridges, smart lights, and health trackers are examples of common IoT use cases. After the shift to EoT, these devices would do far more than record data. They would also make it available to stakeholders on an open, decentralized market, such as researchers, weather services, etc., but not without neglecting their main responsibilities. In sum, EoT is about a lot more than devices going from exchanging data to exchanging value. It is about the possible consequences.
Examples of the transition
There are multiple examples of this, like renting a private charging station or paying to charge an electric car. In most cases, blockchain platforms support these activities. They provide a machine identity service and a transaction layer to allow devices from multiple ecosystems to interact.
More dataflow to work with
One of the basic principles of EoT is live, insight-rich data. The transition from IoT to EoT promises businesses more dataflow to work with and more ways to obtain value from that data. With the current AI boom, this is going to work very well because data is the essence of advanced ML models helping companies generate value.
Additional revenue
Companies can monetize their hardware in many ways. A traditional brick-and-mortar store could gain live insights on traffic and footfall from its CCTV camera feed and sell them to anyone who’s willing to pay. A mall can sell navigation services live parking availability data. A charging station could sell anonymized session data. The opportunities are endless.
Increased economic sustainability
The EoT improves sustainability by promoting inclusion, participation, and the efficient use of devices and resources. It reduces waste and the time devices are idle, optimizes resource use, and promotes the sharing economy, which utilizes the full potential of connected hardware. It facilitates a healthier economic model naturally, which helps fulfill a number of the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals.
Challenges
The transition to the EoT is not without its challenges. One involves the legal and compliance implications of the blockchain-powered business model. The more significant issue is mass unemployment caused by AI and automation.
AI will create jobs, but they will be few in number and will be suitable only for highly skilled people. The issue of unemployment outweighs many of the benefits of AI and the transition to the EoT.
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