Virtuals Protocol and the intersection of Agentic AI & Web3 with Jansen Teng
Release Date: 01/14/2025
How Databricks Revolutionize Intelligent Enterprise AI in ASEAN with Patrick Kelly
Analyse Asia
" We did a survey with The Economist globally which obviously included Europe and APAC as well. And we asked the question, 'Does my organization's current architecture supports the unique demands of AI workloads.' Basically 85% said, 'No. We don't have the architecture to support it.' Some partially does, but it needs lots of modifications. So we can still feel a lot of people are still in the early stages and that data point ties back to: 85% of GenAI [proof of concepts] has not gone into production. I think that another interesting point is, 'Does your architecture connect AI application?...
info_outline
The Lazarus Group, The Bybit Hack and Sanctions: The New Battleground with Andrew Fierman
Analyse Asia
"The thing that's most fascinating, we talk a lot about how complex North Korea is here but when you compare it to some of the other illicit groups, particularly those that are sanctioned, say your terrorist organization that's soliciting donations on Telegram or some other social media outlet understanding what that difference in the level of complexity is, I think is really fascinating to actually know about. When we're talking about DPRK, we're talking about laundering of funds through tens of thousands. By the time we're done, it'll be hundreds of thousands of wallets. And then on the...
info_outline
Building Networks, Not Just Hiring: The Global Talent Strategy with Mark Reinecke
Analyse Asia
"When I discuss with senior leaders, interview them, or assess them for senior roles, they often come to me, and I ask them: 'What makes you unique? How do you see yourself?' Eighty percent of them tell me what they can't do. They talk about their development needs, and I say, 'Is that how you pitch yourself? Is that what you really bring to the table? You sit with a headhunter and tell me what you can’t do—why not tell me what you’re really good at?' Your exceptional value-add, your competitive advantage—that’s what makes an impact, not what you cannot do. Development needs require...
info_outline
Gambling Man: The Secret Story of the World's Greatest Disruptor, Masayoshi Son with Lionel Barber
Analyse Asia
"They will judge Masa to have been an extraordinarily consequential investor and historic figure in world investing and tech investing because he has made not just spectacular bets—but he's made so many people rich. I mean, with other people's money. All these founders, he's given them money, he's been an enormous disruptor, and he's built global businesses. He's built a huge business in Japan on the mobile operator. So for all these reasons, I know he sometimes feels dissatisfied with his legacy, and he's now trying to build his greatest legacy in the march to artificial general...
info_outline
Scam Inc: How a $500B Crime Industry is Impacting the World with Sue-Lin Wong
Analyse Asia
"We're all vulnerable. And I hadn't thought about that previously. I thought, oh, it's only a small group of people who might fall for this. What I've learned is actually [that] these scammers are so sophisticated. They have so much money. Based on my reporting, this industry, you know, is maybe more lucrative than the illicit drug trade, and these criminal syndicates might be making over 500 billion US dollars a year. So that means they have access to the latest technology, whether it's voice cloning or face changing software. They can buy the latest in AI tools. they can stay several...
info_outline
The eFishery Scandal and its impact to Southeast Asia with Kristie Neo
Analyse Asia
"So that was back in 2021. And then after Revolution Precrafted, there was Zilingo in 2022, and then Tanihub and Investree - which were P2P lenders in 2023(24) - and then eFishery. So actually every single year we've been getting pretty big blow ups. But as I was looking at the cases for each of them, one thing I've noticed is the sophistication of the fraud is actually becoming more advanced." - Kristie Neo Fresh out of the studio, Kristie Neo, an independent journalist covering tech and venture capital, joins us to dissect the rise of startup fraud in Southeast Asia and why it’s becoming...
info_outline
How Agentforce is Transforming Businesses in ASEAN with Sujith Abraham
Analyse Asia
"What's the point if it's a fast platform, but I still have to go somewhere else? And the last thing is speed. Right now, especially in our region, it's a land grab. When we think about some of the fastest-growing economies in the world—Indonesia, for example, Vietnam, the Philippines—you have hundreds of millions of people here. What we see in every customer I speak to is interest in how they use our platform to move faster, to deploy AI. They don't want to have to build a foundation level of AI, integrating all those elements themselves. They want to deploy it faster. When you think...
info_outline
Undivided Ventures: AI, Sustainability & Data Centre Technologies with Ariel Shtarkman
Analyse Asia
" Now, the beauty about the real estate industry, if you look outside and you look at the commercial buildings, you have a lot of data generated on a daily basis. The challenge is, what do you do with this data? How do you mine this data in a smart way to give you better investment decisions going forward [or] better decisions on how you run the building? Where are the opportunities to reduce your expenses? On the climate side, how do you reduce your operational carbon? How do you make those buildings better? I think that here, Gen AI, can help big time, because any solution that will mine...
info_outline
Virtuals Protocol and the intersection of Agentic AI & Web3 with Jansen Teng
Analyse Asia
"What does great look like? For us, it's being able to achieve this vision of a society of agents. So, if you can show clearly the economic value of a society when agents can influence other agents, agents can influence humans, and humans can influence agents, that would be something that I'll be very proud to say that we've accomplished. Because that's the beauty of really combining breakthroughs on the AI, on the autonomous agent front, and the value add of crypto. This is one of those very rare moments that crypto has that true potential value add, right? As a productivity lever and an...
info_outline
Why Southeast Asia Matters with Gullnaz Baig
Analyse Asia
"People always ask us this question, what can I learn from that country? People ask us about this from the report especially when we're talking to policymakers, or what should I learn from Malaysia? What should I learn? The thing to learn is to not learn to replicate exactly. But the thing to learn is sort of what are the principles behind what works for them. What are your comparative advantages, Every country needs to be asking that for themselves. So for Vietnam, comparative advantages are things like proximity to China, and an ability at a geopolitical level to navigate between...
info_outline"What does great look like? For us, it's being able to achieve this vision of a society of agents. So, if you can show clearly the economic value of a society when agents can influence other agents, agents can influence humans, and humans can influence agents, that would be something that I'll be very proud to say that we've accomplished. Because that's the beauty of really combining breakthroughs on the AI, on the autonomous agent front, and the value add of crypto. This is one of those very rare moments that crypto has that true potential value add, right? As a productivity lever and an economic lever in society." - Jansen Teng
Fresh out of the studio, Jansen Teng, co-founder and CEO of Virtuals Protocol joins us to share the mission and vision of Virtuals Protocol and how the protocol intersects generative AI and web3, unlocking the world of autonomous AI agents powered by tokenization to unlock new economic possibilities. Beginning from his origin story, he explained how the Virtuals team explored and eventually come to the realization how tokenized AI agents can power entertainment, gaming and trading with Luna, the AI avatar that grew through the help of AI agents and even inspiring works of real art. Last but not least, Jansen offered his perspectives on the trends of agentic AI and web3 and elucidate what great looks like for the Virtuals Protocol.
Audio Episode Highlights:
[00:46] Quote of the Day by Jansen Teng, co-founder and CEO of Virtuals Protocol
[02:33] Introduction: Jansen Teng
[03:46] Jansen Teng shares his origin story in crypto, gaming, and AI
[06:27] Early experiments with AI agents and gaming in Roblox
[07:44] Realizing AI agents as revenue-generating assets
[09:15] Tokenization and Economic Innovation in Virtuals Protocol
[13:17] Navigating challenges during the bear market and pivoting to virtual Protocol
[17:32] Virtuals Protocol's Vision and Mission for creating and co-owning AI agents
[19:46] Observations of agents mimicking societal roles and functioning autonomously
[23:16] The story of Luna and her evolution as an AI influencer
[31:20] How autonomous agents sparked creativity in the crypto space
[40:19] Balancing innovation and scaling challenges for Virtuals Protocol
[43:53] The evolving vision of Virtuals Protocol and the society of agents
[47:21] Virtuals Protocol as the economic foundation for AI agents
[50:56] Challenges and trends in the AI agent ecosystem
[53:19] Exploring billion-dollar verticalized AI agents
[57:28] Closing
Profile: Jansen Teng, co-founder & CEO of Virtuals Protocol.
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jansenteng
Twitter: https://x.com/ethermage
Podcast Information: Bernard Leong hosts and produces the show. The proper credits for the intro and end music are "Energetic Sports Drive." G. Thomas Craig mixed and edited the episode in both video and audio format. Here are the links to watch or listen to our podcast.
Analyse Asia Main Site: https://analyse.asia
Analyse Asia Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/1kkRwzRZa4JCICr2vm0vGl
Analyse Asia Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/analyse-asia-with-bernard-leong/id914868245
Analyse Asia YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@AnalyseAsia
Analyse Asia LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/analyse-asia/
Analyse Asia X (formerly known as Twitter): https://twitter.com/analyseasia
Analyse Asia Threads: https://www.threads.net/@analyseasia
Sign Up for Our This Week in Asia Newsletter: https://www.analyse.asia/#/portal/signup
Subscribe Newsletter on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/build-relation/newsletter-follow?entityUrn=7149559878934540288