Exclusive interview with ai16z founder Shaw: How Eliza framework, DAO innovation and AI will reshape the future of Web3

Bản gốc | Odaily Planet Daily ( @OdailyTrung Quốc )

Tác giả | Asher ( @Asher_0210 )

Yesterday (December 23), Shaw, the creator of the Eliza framework and founder of ai16z DAO, was interviewed by Odaily Planet Daily at a fan meeting in Shanghai, sharing the latest developments of ai16z, degenai, and the in-depth cooperation project ELIZA, as well as the impact of the AI sector on Web3 in 2025.

The following is the interview transcript

Odaily Planet Daily: You have been very popular in the Web3 field recently, which has brought a lot of pressure. Can you share your personal experience and why you chose to step into the spotlight from an anonymous developer in the second half of this year?

Shaw: I didnt set out to be in the spotlight, and I didnt expect it to happen. It was a weird feeling because I was just a programmer and nobody knew who I was. I was anonymous, but I started to feel disconnected, and I wanted to try to be myself and be authentic online. Then I released Eliza, and it became so popular that it changed my life. I didnt expect any of this to happen. I didnt even realize there was a spotlight for developers.

As for the external pressure, yes, it exists. I used to love promoting other projects simply because I personally thought they were great and I wanted to share what I believed in. However, when the DAO started to get really big, everyone became very focused on token-related matters, which made me feel a lot of internal pressure and I could no longer talk freely about the projects I liked.

Odaily Planet Daily: The Eliza framework is now one of the most popular projects on GitHub. What is special about it?

Shaw: I think there are three main reasons. First, it works out of the box. There are a lot of AI agent and large language model (LLM) related tools, and although they are all great toolkits, you still need to build the entire agent yourself. The Eliza framework we built, as long as you start it, you can run it directly, and it includes everything you may need. At the same time, it also provides a lot of plug-ins, such as Solana plug-in, EVM plug-in, which are already integrated.

Second, the core of AI agents is around the network. I noticed that many people limit AI to Python research and model development, but I think the agent is more about connecting all these models to people through the Internet. Therefore, we built it in TypeScript, and Web3 is particularly suitable for JavaScript and TypeScript ecosystems, which allows many developers to get started directly.

Third, focus on the social loop. We focused on building connectors to social platforms like X, Discord, Telegram, etc., so developers can run our tools immediately and get their bots online to X without coding. Then they can add their own features on top of it, such as integrating the EVM chain, so you can add a wallet to your agent with almost no code changes. Or, if you have your own software and API, you can call them through the agent. Starting with social media is key, and agents on social media can promote themselves and let more people know about it, so that it spreads quickly. I think this is why it is successful: agents can easily be online on X, and then everyone will want to have one after seeing it, and then they can quickly get and use it.

Odaily Planet Daily: Last week, ai16z not only launched the Binance alpha section, but also launched OKX contract trading. Do you have any plans to further deepen cooperation with mainstream exchanges?

Shaw: Of course, we have other people on the team who are responsible for these matters. I think we may see more listings and related progress after the New Year holiday , but I cant promise a specific time. I think Binance and Coinbase are inevitable, but I am more focused on AI agent-related content, so I cant make any guarantees or provide investment advice.

Odaily Planet Daily: What is the difference between ai16z and the previous Dao organization in the Web3 field?

Shaw: I think the core problem of the previous DAO organization is that the decentralized nature of DAO is indeed achieved, but the autonomy part is not done well. It is not truly autonomous and still requires a lot of manpower for communication and coordination. This brings many problems, such as: a small number of people hold all the power. Usually some big whales control all the voting rights; it is difficult for newcomers to enter and participate in it and contribute to the DAO.

This short-sighted behavior obviously exposes many coordination problems of DAO. And we think that this is exactly where our technology can solve, allowing more people to actually participate in the contribution and provide rewards for their contributions. We are working on a mechanism for continuous retroactive fund allocation. The idea is: if you contribute code to the code base, or assist in the working group in Discord, or even help in any meaningful way, then these contributors will be rewarded. This is different from traditional airdrops. It is more like a way to continuously reward contributors. We plan to implement this reward mechanism every month. At present, we are working hard to develop relevant functions for this.

Odaily Planet Daily: So, do you think ai16z Dao will have its own business model in the future? What is it?

Shaw: Yes, our business model is based on the accumulation of token value. At the same time, we are also making some investments, mainly investing in projects that we think are very valuable, such as token launch platforms, DeFi platforms, and projects in the ecosystem using AI agents.

We are not like a traditional startup, without VC support, but we do have a relatively large fund pool, which was donated by a whale. We are using this fund to invest in projects that we think are important and get returns from them. We are also developing our own token launch platform and are currently working with the teams we invested in, which is a bit like the concept of Baidu Fund. We are also working more deeply with Baidu Fund and some other projects.

Odaily Planet Daily: Last weekend, the official Twitter account of ai16z mentioned that it would integrate its ecological token economic model. Will it increase the value of tokens through staking, burning, etc.?

Shaw: I think burning tokens is not an effective strategy in some ways. At least in my experience, burning tokens sometimes gives people the feeling of dumping, which does not seem to really help the long-term value of the token. In fact, if I burn tokens myself, it may cause dissatisfaction among some people because they will feel that this will weaken their incentives. However, I think staking is very important. I think any mechanism that can lock tokens will be very popular. What we are really concerned about right now is that our token faces huge liquidity issues after listing. For example, we have a token with a market value of $1 billion, but only $4 million in liquidity, which is obviously not enough.

Odaily Planet Daily: Regarding Degenai, you said before on the X platform that you will soon launch its artificial intelligence agent. Can you reveal what kind of artificial intelligence agent it will be? What is its core competitiveness?

Shaw: Yes, degenai is coming soon. It is the first character we launched, and it comes with its own wallet when it goes online. Degenai can obtain trading signals through social media. We will track certain KOLs. Do they really share high-quality recommendations? If we follow the advice of these KOLs, can we make a profit? Or are they actually cutting leeks? The core of degenai is to establish a trust scoring system to make trading decisions based on this data. The ultimate goal of developing degenai is to allow these tools to not only serve us, but also be copied by users and brought to their own communities. For example, users can trade through this agent without having to manually perform complex trading operations on Phantom or DEX Screener.

At the same time, we are currently developing another character, both of which use the same technology but have slightly different functions. Although some information has been released, we are in the testing phase and have only opened a very small Alpha chat group, where users who are invited can share transaction information in this Alpha chat.

Odaily Planet Daily: Regarding the ELIZA project, which is in-depth cooperation with ai16z, you could have released it yourself, but you handed it over to the AVA team. Do you think they are more professional and will make ELIZA better? In what ways will you provide help to the project in the future?

Shaw: The AVA team showed me an early version of the project. I thought it was cool and was willing to work together to ensure that the project truly reflects high-quality standards. In addition, they have some great developers on the team. Their vision is to build a platform that not only provides decentralization, but also far exceeds the existing Eliza project in user experience and functionality. They hope to rebất chấpne the positioning and application scenarios of the Eliza token, not just a token or AI project, but a comprehensive platform covering a variety of tools, services and ecosystems. Support for ELIZA includes:

• Technical support: We will continue to provide technical support, such as code review, optimization, and assistance in implementing core functions.

• Resource integration: We will leverage our own ecosystem and resources to collaborate with them at a deeper level, including sharing market channels and industry networks;

• Community promotion: We plan to use our community resources to help them expand their user base and ensure that existing Eliza token users can smoothly migrate to the new platform or receive new features;

• Financial support: If necessary, we will evaluate whether to support the long-term development of the project through direct investment or participation in the token economy.

We are very optimistic about their potential and believe that this project meets market needs and user expectations. They have the ability to drive the development of Eliza in a freer and more creative way, and our support is to ensure that the project has a solid start, is consistent with our overall mission, and respects its independence.

Odaily Planet Daily: Whether in the Web2 field or the Web3 field, everyone is optimistic about the AI sector in 2025. Do you think that the performance of the AI sector in the Web3 field in 2025 will exceed that of GameFi Summer and DeFi Summer in those years?

Shaw: I think its possible. Ultimately, it depends on how the global economy performs, and if mainstream assets like Bitcoin continue to perform well, the market may continue to rise. In addition, I firmly believe that AI will completely change the way the Internet works, and AI agents are just the beginning. For example, take platform X, most of the information I see now seems to be AI-related content, which is really crazy.

Odaily Planet Daily: Finally, for users who are just getting started in the field of Web3 AI, do you have any novice advice for them?

Shaw: Do your own research. I see a lot of people who lose money because they dont do any reading or understanding. They just follow the crowd and then complain when something happens. For something like PVP, because the trend changes so quickly, a few minutes may determine whether you make 1x, 10 lần , or lose all your money. This fast-moving environment leads to a blind following phenomenon. However, those who really do a lot of research will understand all the projects and figure out the differences between this project and that project. If you can spend a lot of time asking these questions and finding answers, you are much more likely to choose the right investment.

In addition, I think the way to make money is not just to buy a project, but also to do liquidity mining. Buy the top tokens that perform well and put them into the liquidity pool. Although you may not get a 10x return because you missed the early opportunity, you will get a long-term and stable return, which is the key.

This article is sourced from the internet: Exclusive interview with ai16z founder Shaw: How Eliza framework, DAO innovation and AI will reshape the future of Web3

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