In this episode, Shaw Walters, founder of Eliza Labs, takes us through his journey of launching ai16z, a decentralized AI-driven investment DAO, and the explosive growth of the Eliza open-source framework.
Shaw explains how AI agents are evolving beyond "reply bots" to serve as powerful tools for financial autonomy, community investment, and user empowerment. He shares the challenges of building trust between humans and AI, the possibilities of agents trading across multiple blockchains, and his vision of a world where financial freedom drives human progress.
Show highlights:
- Why Shaw decided to launch ai16z
- What he believes AI agents are useful for
- What the Eliza framework is and the role it plays being an open-source project
- Whether AI agents can be good at trading
- Why the Eliza framework works on every chain, even though there’s a focus on Solana
- How and why the AI version of Marc Andreessen was launched
- Whether ai16z will launch its own layer 1 and the details on the future launchpad
- How agents on social media could be really useful instead of being “reply bots”
- What Shaw thinks overall of the AI space and how it’ll impact human society
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Timestamps:
- 00:00 Intro
- 03:01 Shaw’s inspiration for launching ai16z
- 08:45 How AI agents are evolving beyond simple tasks
- 10:28 The Eliza framework and its open-source impact
- 13:22 Can AI agents excel at trading?
- 21:19 Why Eliza works seamlessly across multiple blockchains
- 24:08 The story behind launching Marc Andreessen as an AI character
- 35:18 Plans for ai16z’s layer 1 and its future launchpad
- 40:23 Transforming AI agents into more than just “reply bots”
- 43:26 Shaw’s vision for AI’s role in shaping human society
- 49:26 Crypto News Recap
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