NEAR founder and Transformer co-author Illia Polosukhin joins us to break down why today’s AI agents still fall short, what’s missing to make them actually useful, and how IronClaw could unlock secure, private, autonomous AI.
We also explore Illia’s bigger thesis: AI becomes the interface, blockchains become the backend, and both reshape how humans, agents, and digital markets interact.
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TIMESTAMPS
0:00 Intro
0:43 Illia’s AI Journey
8:19 AI x Blockchain Operating Systems
14:40 Will Humans & AIs Use the Same Systems?
18:20 Why Are AI Agents Still Useless?
28:54 AI Agent Privacy Concerns
35:30 IronClaw Privacy
39:21 AI Agent Limitations
47:00 Context Constraints
53:42 Will Small Teams Win?
57:16 Autonomous Agents & Businesses
1:01:00 Digital Life Forms?
1:02:42 e/acc Vs d/acc
1:09:44 Why isn’t AI Crypto-Pilled
1:14:31 Advice for Builders
1:18:30 Closing & Disclaimers
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RESOURCES
Illia
https://x.com/ilblackdragon
IronClaw
https://agent.near.ai/
NEAR
https://www.near.org/
Attention is All You Need
https://arxiv.org/html/1706.03762v7
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