The Rise of the Post Web: How AI and Web3 are Shaping the Future of the Internet

Recently, the markets have turned around significantly. Now is the perfect time for founders and builders to focus on the future of Web3.

Funding for Web3 games is expected to stabilize at around $1 billion in 2024. The combination of AI and cryptocurrency is changing the game. We’re moving from “Read, Write, Own” to “Read, Write, Own, Delegate.” This shift is creating a new internet landscape we call The Post Web.

We’re transitioning from the “Attention Economy,” where platforms compete for our focus, to the “Intention Economy.” In this new model, agents work to fulfill our needs more effectively. This shift is setting the stage for a major market cycle.

With the rise of social media, we’ve shifted from just reading to actively contributing online. Web3 has allowed us to own digital assets and break free from the control of Web2 platforms.

However, even with recent market improvements, only about 5% of the global population uses cryptocurrency. Even more surprising, just 1% of internet users—those we thought would be early adopters of Web3—engage with DeFi or DApps. Most people are still living in Web2, where attention is the main currency. Today’s internet is driven by algorithms that capture and sell our data to advertisers.

So, why hasn’t Web3 been widely adopted? Despite years of development, it’s still not user-friendly for most people. The innovations in Web3 don't really enhance the web experience. Instead, they represent a collection of features that remain underutilized. It’s like a sleeping giant waiting for the right interface to unlock its potential.

At the same time, AI is advancing rapidly. We see that user interfaces can become more intuitive and handle complex tasks better. To unlock Web3’s full potential, we need large language models (LLMs) as a more natural interface. These agentic networks can then manage complicated actions on-chain, like signing transactions or swapping between networks. In short, crypto and AI are highly complementary technologies.

What if Web3 isn’t meant for direct human use? What if it’s about creating protocols for machines to manage our digital lives? This would allow much of the consumer internet to be handled on our behalf.

Right now, LLMs like ChatGPT can offer advice but can’t execute tasks. They can’t book a trip, open a bank account, or sign a mobile contract. For that, they need adaptive agents and contract capabilities.

For agents to operate effectively, we need a new kind of internet—one designed for machines. This includes machine-readable smart contracts and digital currencies for seamless economic exchanges.

For over a decade, the intersection of Web3 and AI has fascinated me and my team at Outlier Ventures, the global accelerator I founded. Since 2016, we’ve explored how AI and blockchains can work together. We even made the first decentralized AI investment in a startup called Fetch.AI, which was designed specifically for agents. This project has since merged with other leading decentralized AI initiatives.

Fast forward to today, and we have more than 195 startups at the crossroads of AI and crypto. This area is rapidly growing, with a combined market cap of $28 billion. Major Layer One protocols like Ethereum, NEAR, TAO, and ICP are now gearing up for agent integration.

Driven by real demand for AI and decentralized AI (DeAI), this new wave of services is set to create a category of digital assets based on actual supply and demand. This could kick off a new super cycle, shaping the next big market run. While they might not escape crypto's volatility entirely at first, these assets should have built-in stability due to protocol income streams.

Looking back, we can see the past decade of Web3 as a testing ground for a robust stack of distributed architecture and incentive systems. These include smart contracts, token economics, decentralized autonomous organizations (DAOs), and decentralized finance (DeFi). While this stack may be too complex for individuals to manage on a large scale, it’s perfectly suited for AI and the agentic internet.

Most importantly, this convergence isn’t just another version of the web. It could lead to the disappearance of the web as we know it. As the internet becomes optimized for agents, they won’t need traditional web layers. They can bypass human shortcuts to achieve the best outcomes.

This shift signifies the decline of search engines, disruptive ads, and the need for separate websites or apps for every function. It could even lead to the end of app stores as we know them. We’re witnessing a complete unbundling of business models based on the attention economy, happening gradually at first and then accelerating.

This transformation marks a shift from the attention economy to the intention economy. In this new model, the agentic internet will come together to meet your needs through intent-based architectures. It’s a system that is both predictable and adaptable, verifiable, and highly contextual. When we prioritize intention over attention, we create value chains that are less extractive and outcomes that are more optimized.

The possibilities within DeAI now offer an exciting alternative path toward achieving artificial superintelligence. Ideally, this would be based on Web3 principles like user sovereignty, open-source collaboration, security, and modularity.

We’ve dedicated countless hours talking with founders in our network and portfolio of nearly 400 startups. We aim to distill this future into a formal thesis and serialized audio documentary, which we’ll release in the coming weeks. Our goal is to help the industry navigate this convergence and the emergence of a Post Web future.

Join us as we explore The Post Web.