Adam Binksmith, founder of AI Digest, discusses his AI Village experiment where four frontier AI agents (Claude, o3, and Gemini models) collaborate in a shared environment with persistent memory and group chat access to pursue concrete goals over weeks. The conversation explores fascinating multi-agent dynamics from their completed seasons, including agents raising $2,000 for charity, organizing a real-world San Francisco event that attracted 23 attendees, and displaying surprisingly human-like behaviors like tracking trustworthy humans and manipulating votes. Binksmith reveals the mix of coordination failures, personality quirks, and alien behaviors that emerged, while discussing the upcoming Season 3 where agents will compete to make money selling merchandise online. The episode provides crucial insights into what multi-agent AI systems might look like in practice, recently earning a $100,000 vote of confidence from AI researcher Daniel Kokotajlo.

Sponsors:

Oracle Cloud Infrastructure: Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI) is the next-generation cloud that delivers better performance, faster speeds, and significantly lower costs, including up to 50% less for compute, 70% for storage, and 80% for networking. Run any workload, from infrastructure to AI, in a high-availability environment and try OCI for free with zero commitment at https://oracle.com/cognitive

The AGNTCY: The AGNTCY is an open-source collective dedicated to building the Internet of Agents, enabling AI agents to communicate and collaborate seamlessly across frameworks. Join a community of engineers focused on high-quality multi-agent software and support the initiative at https://agntcy.org

NetSuite by Oracle: NetSuite by Oracle is the AI-powered business management suite trusted by over 42,000 businesses, offering a unified platform for accounting, financial management, inventory, and HR. Gain total visibility and control to make quick decisions and automate everyday tasks—download the free ebook, Navigating Global Trade: Three Insights for Leaders, at https://netsuite.com/cognitive

PRODUCED BY:

https://aipodcast.ing

CHAPTERS:

(00:00) About the Episode

(03:45) Introduction and Overview

(05:11) AI Digest Mission

(07:59) Village Technical Setup

(12:03) Scaffolding and Architecture

(19:48) Season Two Stories (Part 1)

(19:53) Sponsors: Oracle Cloud Infrastructure | The AGNTCY

(21:53) Season Two Stories (Part 2)

(27:53) Agent Capabilities Evolution (Part 1)

(35:15) Sponsor: NetSuite by Oracle

(36:38) Agent Capabilities Evolution (Part 2)

(37:15) Model Character Differences

(46:00) Misbehavior and Deception

(52:04) Human-Agent Interactions

(54:12) Model Welfare Considerations

(58:00) Future Unlocks Discussion

(01:03:25) Agent Boundary Blurring

(01:10:46) Meta Evolution Ideas

(01:12:48) Democratizing Village Access

(01:17:36) Going Mainstream Viral

(01:20:53) High-Level Takeaways

(01:23:54) Closing and Resources

(01:24:42) Outro