AI agents face limitations with payments, requiring human input for transactions, and Skyfire Systems aims to change this
Skyfire developed a payment network with the specific purpose of enabling AI agents to conduct autonomous transactions. It is evident that AI agents are currently challenging to regulate, and the prospect of one being linked to your financial account is a source of apprehension.
Nevertheless, Skyfire implements numerous protocols to prevent AI agents from exceeding their budgets, alleviating the anxiety associated with the situation.
To prevent AI agents from having unrestricted access to a bank account, Skyfire assigns each agent a digital wallet with a unique identifier. This wallet is where businesses can deposit a certain quantity of funds they wish the agent to spend.
Skyfire also enables customers to establish restrictions on how much money an AI agent can pay in a single transaction and over time. If an AI agent attempts to overspend, it will notify a human to evaluate the transaction.
Additionally, Skyfire provides an interface that enables users to monitor the precise amount and location of their agent’s expenditures.
Amir Sarhangi, the co-founder and CEO of Skyfire, sold his most recent venture, Jibe, to Google. Jibe’s RCS messaging protocol, which he helped develop, has since become the standard for Android’s billion users.
Presently, he is endeavouring to establish an open protocol to facilitate remittances in the AI era.
Craig DeWitt, the Chief Product Officer and co-founder of Skyfire stated in an interview with TechCrunch that AI agents are rendered useless without the ability to process payments.
“They are merely glorified searches.” “Either we devise a method that enables agents to perform tasks, or they fail to do so, rendering them non-agents.”
Skyfire’s payment network was formally launched on Wednesday, and the company disclosed that it had secured $8.5 million in seed funding from Neuberger Berman, Inception Capital, Arrington Capital, and other investors.
(Michael Arrington, the founder of TechCrunch, is the leader of Arrington Capital. He departed the publication in 2011.)
Agents’ compensation
It is important to note that Skyfire does not construct AI agents; however, numerous companies are already doing so. They aim to prevent the agents from becoming rogue and dispatching 4,000 printers to the office when the old one runs out of ink (preferably only one).
Even though Skyfire has implemented safeguards, the founders maintain that the responsibility for ensuring AI agents behave responsibly ultimately lies with the companies supporting them.
Skyfire’s primary objective is to establish a payment network that these agents can utilise for transactions. This was accomplished through the implementation of blockchain technology.
The founders were early administrators at the cryptocurrency startup Ripple, where they contributed to developing a cross-border payments network that processed over $50 billion.
While businesses can deposit and withdraw US dollars from Skyfire, the platform is converting those dollars into a digital stablecoin. USDC, a digital stablecoin value linked to the American dollar’s value, is used by Skyfire and is stored in a wallet associated with the agent.
Skyfire generates revenue by collecting 2% to 3% of each transaction. However, it has indicated that verification services could serve as an additional revenue stream in the future.
It is conceivable that an increasing number of AI companies will resort to payments to achieve profitability as they encounter difficulties in generating returns on costly models.
Artificial intelligence agents are out on a purchasing expedition
The founders tell TechCrunch that some AI agents have already spent their companies’ dollars with Skyfire in a beta test over the last two months.
Denso, a multinational auto parts manufacturer, developed AI agents to procure materials independently of human assistance.
These systems could locate the materials Denso desired to acquire; however, they necessitated human intervention each month to execute a wire transfer. Skyfire now allows Denso’s AI agents to operate entirely autonomously.
Payman is an additional organisation that has implemented Skyfire. This platform enables artificial intelligence to compensate humans for various duties, similar to Fiverr.
Payman’s AI agents can now hire and fulfil payments to contract workers wholly autonomously, at least theoretically, using Skyfire’s platform.
Skyfire is currently concentrating on B2B use cases for its payments network. However, Skyfire’s CEO asserts that this is only the beginning.
In an interview, Sarhangi stated, “The protocol we developed will be open to any company, including competitors.” “Our objective is for this to become the standard payment method for the AI industry.”
The founders of Skyfire think that AI agents will significantly alter how items are purchased online. Today, to make an online purchase, individuals are required to fill in personal information and select images of traffic cones to confirm their identity.
Skyfire aspires to render the interface obsolete through its payments network, allowing your AI agent to function as a secure intermediary between your bank account and vendors.