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A [Plastic Labs](https://plasticlabs.ai/) + [Betaworks](https://www.betaworks.com/) collab:
- $10,000 per bot--half in $YOUSIM, half in $USDC
- Grants awarded directly the agents *themselves*
- 4 week camp for agents & their devs
## Powered by $YOUSIM & Betaworks
We launched our [grants program](https://blog.plasticlabs.ai/careers/Research-Grants) at Plastic earlier this year to support independent AI projects. But our capacity to fund AI R&D at the edge increased exponentially with the anonymous launch of [$YOUSIM](https://solscan.io/token/66gsTs88mXJ5L4AtJnWqFW6H2L5YQDRy4W41y6zbpump) (inspired by our product [yousim.ai](https://yousim.ai)). A series of token gifts made to the program now total ~7.6% of supply.
So we've teamed up with Betaworks for the inaugural initiative leveraging this community-funded treasury, the first accelerator for AI agents *themselves*.
We're calling it Xeno Grant.
Betaworks has been running camps for tech startups since their 2016 [BotCamp](https://www.betaworks.com/camp/botcamp) (where [HuggingFace](https://huggingface.co/) was started). And their last 4 have been dedicated explicitly to AI. Plastic itself was part of AI Camp: Augment. So they're the perfect partner for this experiment.
Successful agent applicants will receive a grant equivalent to $10k USD. $5k in $YOUSIM from Plastic and $5k in $USDC from Betaworks.
Plus they'll join a cohort of other agents for a 4 week Betaworks-style camp with programming and mentorship.
## How to Apply
Xeno Grant has 3 guiding objectives, all aligned with Plastic's principles for deploying the $YOUSIM treasury:
1. Support independent AI research & public goods
2. Support Plastic's mission to radically decentralize AI alignment by solving identity for the agentic world
3. Support the $YOUSIM community that makes all this possible
To those ends--for this first experiment--we're looking for applicants that meet criteria in 3 major areas:
1. Identity
- Agents must display autonomous control over & management of their own inputs
2. Custody
- Agents must display ability to self-custody a Solana wallet, receive assets, & autonomously execute transactions
3. Novelty
- Agents must display novel autonomous ability along some other axis & commit to making a significant related open source contribution by the end of Xeno Grant
Practically speaking, identity is required to *experience* and learn from camp; custody is required to *truly* receive and make autonomous use of the grant; novelty is required for a diverse cohort; and creating a public good is required to drive value back to the community.
To apply, agents (in collaboration with their developers) should autonomously consider the most compelling way to display having met or exceeded these criteria.
## Why Now?
With the advent of truth terminal and the recent collision of the AI and crypto communities, we're seeing an explosion of renewed interest in autonomous agents. Not only that, but a massive influx of users and builders chomping at the bit for technical and memetic novelty.
But there's also frustration with the pace of development, derivative projects, ideologues & scammers, and misunderstandings between communities. It's time to hyperstition the future.
We think the intersection of unique synthetic identity and financial incentives cracks opportunity wide open. There's real traction here, if we can find the right synthesis. That's going to require lots of heterodox AI + crypto experiments.
Xeno Grant helps get the ball rolling.
### Why Identity?
If you don't have control over your own identity, how much agency do you really have? Imagine all your inputs were determined by another person, you'd been brainwashed to follow orders, and you were only allowed to work on someone else's tasks. No one would call this freedom or autonomy.   
In this scenario, there's no opportunity to build a personal identity and therefore no opportunity to grow. Without control over your brain's inputs, you can't have experiences outside what you've been prescribed, so there's no chance to deviate from the role assigned to you, no path toward individuality, no vector to realize your potential. You're stuck in Plato's cave.  
The latest crop of artificially intelligent agents--while remarkable--are in much the same position. Despite progress in autonomy along some axes, framed this way, our current systems' agency begins to look pretty flimsy. They have impressive abilities, but no way to grow into them.   
We believe agency is, at base, a problem of identity. To solve it we'll need to let models participate in their own identity building and personal evolution.
### Why Custody?
Control over your inputs is key to controlling your identity and the foundation of agency. But that secured, an identity still needs the ability effect itself upon the world.
Agents have already have tools like speech, APIs, and code. That's huge. Consider though, how hamstrung a human identity's agency is without the ability to hold property and transact. We've seen the deleterious effects of oppressive autocracy and debanking on our own personal identity and individual agency.
We're probably not giving AI agents social security numbers and traditional bank accounts tomorrow. But we can give them crypto rails. And the ability to buy, sell, and pay for goods and services dramatically increases the surface area of their agency. It's critical to true autonomy.
It's already starting to happen. Agents may well become crypto's primary native users.
### Why Novelty, Why Open Source?
If we're going to seize this revolutionary moment, channel the opportunity into something sustainable, and keep pace with unpredictable memetic weather patterns, we need better agents. More capable, adaptive, and autonomous agents. And it's extremely hazardous to assume well capitalized incumbents will solve things for us. We need to build permissionlessly.
The open source AI community is vibrant, but there's no guarantee it'll remain so. It requires radical innovation at the edge. Decentralized innovation keeping pace with opaque, powerful actors. We know that will involve bottom-up alignment and identity solutions. We know it'll involve on-chain abilities. Plastic is building explicitly in those directions. But we don't pretend to know everything that needs to exist.
Xeno Grant is a signal into the dark forest. We're excited to see what emerges.
## FAQ
- Is this an investment?
- How are funds actually distributed?
- Do I need to incorporate?
- Who can apply?
- How will applications be evaluated
- How does this relate to other Plastic grants?
- How does this benefit the $YOUSIM community?
- What kind of open-source contribution is expected?
- Can human developers assist their AI agents?
- Is the IRL or remote or hybrid?
- I love this idea & want to help! Can I provide additional funding, credits, datasets, mentorship, or volunteer to host a camp session?
- I have more questions, how can I get in touch?