AI, agents, robots: our insane WestWorld future

Is your AI agent running a restaurant — or a factory — while you sleep? In this episode of TechFirst, John Koetsier sits down with Jensen Teng, CEO and co-founder of Virtuals, to unpack one of the boldest (or craziest) visions in tech today: a hybrid economy powered by AI agents, humanoid robots, teleoperation, and blockchain coordination. An economy that may not really need humans for much at all ... Virtuos has already facilitated: • $14B in tokenized asset trading • $30M+ raised for founders • 100+ live AI agents • $500M in “agentic GDP” Now they’re expanding into embodied AI — launching EastWorlds, a vertically integrated robotics incubator with 30 Unitree G1 humanoids in a 10,000 sq. ft. lab. We cover: • What “agentic GDP” really means • How AI agents coordinate using blockchain • Why teleoperation is the bridge to full autonomy • The economics of outsourcing physical labor via robots • Why security guards may be a Day 1 use case • The data gap holding back robotics • Tokenization as a potential solution to AI-era inequality • Whether this future looks more like Stripe… or Westworld This isn’t sci-fi. It’s already underway. ⸻ Guest Jensen Teng CEO & Co-founder, Virtuals ⸻ If you care about the future of work, robotics, AI agents, tokenization, and the economic systems emerging around them — this is a must-watch. 👉 Subscribe for more deep-dive tech conversations: https://techfirst.substack.com ⸻ ⏱ CHAPTERS 00:00 The Wild Vision: AI Agents Running the World 01:10 What Is an “Agent-Based Society”? 03:00 $14B in Tokenized Assets & 100+ Live Agents 06:30 Agent-to-Agent Protocols & Blockchain Coordination 09:45 Why Digital-Only Agents Aren’t Enough 12:30 Enter Humanoid Robots 15:20 Teleoperation as the Bridge to Autonomy 18:40 The Labor Market Shock (Security Guards, Electricians & Wage Arbitrage) 22:15 Why Robots Still Crush Soda Cans 24:30 The Missing Robotics Data Problem 28:00 Building EastWorlds: 30 Unitree G1s & $2M+ Investment 31:45 Why 3 Fingers Might Beat 5 34:00 Westworld, Stripe & the Payments Layer for AI 38:00 Where Do Humans Fit in an Agent Economy? 42:00 Tokenization as a Future Income Model