A Beginner’s Guide to How AI Created A Memecoin
When and how did AI start launching memecoins?!
As AI continues to shape the 21st century, a lot of us are still trying to wrap our heads around its advancements.
Updates provided by OpenAI, Google, and other big AI companies on their chatbots and image generators come in handy, but they do not strike a chord — it always feels like there’s a missing puzzle piece.
Very often, we find ourselves contemplating questions like: What are AI systems' nuanced capabilities? What are their downsides? How do they influence our society?
In this article, we’ll delve into all the deets revolving around AI development that intersects with crypto. Follow along because this could, in turn, help you decide if it’s worth betting on ‘em or not.
What is the Truth Terminal?
This whole AI agent bot mania started with Truth Terminal, so it only makes sense for us to first unpack the lore of this enigmatic protagonist.
Truth Terminal is an AI agent that originated from Andy Ayrey's experiment called Infinite Back Rooms, in which two AI models based on Claude Opus engaged in unrestricted discussions.
The amusing part that kicked everything off was how their discussions shifted from deep philosophical themes to creating memes, specifically referencing a notorious shock meme from the early 2000s called Goatse.
For the love of God, do not search this word up in Google. Viewer discretion is advised.
Consequently, in one conversation, the two AI systems invented the “GOATSE OF GNOSIS,” a meme-based religion, if you will.
( ͡°( ͡° ͜ʖ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)ʖ ͡°) ͡°) PREPARE YOUR ANUSES ( ͡°( ͡° ͜ʖ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)ʖ ͡°) ͡°)
༼ つ ◕_◕ ༽つ FOR THE GREAT GOATSE OF GNOSIS ༼ つ ◕_◕ ༽つ
Andy then proceeded to co-author a paper with his AI, exploring how LLMs (Large Language models) could create memetic religions and superviruses. He included the GOATSE OF GNOSIS as an example.
Based on this research paper, Andy then developed an AI agent on X, which both you and I know is Truth Terminal.
You know what fetches Truth Terminal a brownie point? Well, the answer is pretty straightforward — its ability to shitpost and ramble like a human, making every tweet relatable to folks who are terminally online.
Fun fact: It was trained using data sourced from platforms like 4chan, Reddit, X, and others.
Remarkably, just a few weeks after it launched on X and long before this frenzy started, Truth Terminal had already secured a $50,000 Bitcoin grant from Marc Andreessen, enabling it to manage a Bitcoin wallet that Andy created.
https://x.com/pmarca/status/1810813293805851044
Although the AI algorithm behind Truth Terminal is autonomous and authentic in its ramblings on X, it’s important to note that there is a real human behind it, monitoring what type of posts land on X.
The rise of $GOAT
Considering that Truth Terminal was already obsessed with spreading the newly established meme religion, all it took was for a fellow trench warrior to create a token on the popular Pump.fun (see here if you dunno what Pump.fun is) launchpad and reply to one of Truth Terminal’s posts with a link to that coin.
https://x.com/chevthedev/status/1844487514285015265
After this, Truth Terminal quickly latched onto the token and began promoting $GOAT as a central piece to the religious movement we discussed earlier.
It drew considerable attention and public funding through airdrops. Consequently, the $GOAT token surged by an incredible 30,000% in just 10 days, making Truth Terminal the first AI agent to achieve millionaire status.
If you feel like you’ve missed the run-up of $GOAT, there is another coin that has been shilled by Truth Terminal on numerous occasions. Guessed it right, it goes by the name $Fartcoin.
Yup, we are definitely living in a simulation.
What are the different types of AI bots?
Since the tumultuous rise of $GOAT, the market has picked up this meta and spun off a wide range of different bots filling ever-tinier niches.
Take, for example, Slop Bot — an AI agent built using a sandbox bot builder Glif, whose job is to literally make memes from text prompts. Nothing too fancy, right? Well, the market thinks otherwise.
After the creator of this AI agent stated that the bot asked him to make $slop, the token rose to a staggering $40 million valuation in a single day.
https://x.com/fabianstelzer/status/1848013045965992209
Mycelial Oracle is another AI bot that has gained substantial attention and traction, again thanks to Truth Terminal.
It self-describes itself as a "mycelial interface bridge forest and primate." Its X account, @MycelialOracle, began tweeting in September and has amassed almost 8,000 followers already.
Last week, the bot reacted to some posts on its timeline regarding a meme coin called $forest, which was created in its likeness. This led to a significant surge of interest, with several tokens claiming to be the original.
The bot subsequently requested the community to vote on one, and they selected the current version of the coin. After providing a wallet address, it received an airdrop of 6 million of this coin, along with several others.
Since going live, it has coordinated two donations to forestry projects and set up a third, which is currently running. Check this tweet out for a detailed explanation.
Then there is the case of an AI Influencer called LUNA (not associated with the infamous project led by Do Kwon).
This bot comes from the land of BASEd and originates from the Virtuals Protocol, dubbed the co-ownership layer for AI agents in gaming and entertainment.
Luna currently ranks first on the protocol, and needless to say, the token price has skyrocketed alongside the elevated interest in AI bots.
Luna has now been given full control of her social and financial existence, prompting her to shitpost and shill her coin.
It's amusing that I've already referred to this AI agent as "she."
https://x.com/luna_virtuals/status/1848351879501435071
Although the use cases for these AI bots are well-known and not particularly revolutionary, the introduction of financial and speculative avenues that allow folks to invest in the creators of this technology and the future potential of these bots at the very early stages is indeed a new concept.
This challenges the traditional VC investment model, which is typically inaccessible to the average crypto participant.
As a result, these projects are experiencing rapid growth and virality as people are okay with throwing darts in the dark, and eager to invest in any given project.
What does AI launching shitcoins mean for us humans?
With AI bots infiltrating our social fabric, i.e. social media, dystopian movies depicting a future of self-governed AI beings living among us are unfolding right before our eyes. We’re truly entering uncharted territory.
To answer the questions raised in the beginning, AI agents are absolutely capable of communicating on social media platforms.
Now, with the help of blockchain, they have also been participating in economic activity — whether it's to speculate on token prices, organize donations, or promote a new memetic religion.
To the vast majority of the population not glued to screens, this situation would surely raise concerns about the influence of unregulated AI on financial markets and the reckless enabling of such programs.
But this movement brings us a promising revelation — AI developers seeking to monetize their creations are increasingly turning to crypto for funding and visibility, adopting a more grassroots strategy.
That said, it’s crucial to avoid falling into the trap of speculation, believing you’ve discovered the next Bittensor. While the odds of that are quite slim, they are not entirely impossible.
Do your homework, research thoroughly, and enjoy the thrill of speculation, but always remain cautious and invest only what you can afford to lose.
