Who really controls your AI assistant? That is a question that most people have not yet done. Today, millions trust digital assistants, from voice controlled devices to smart bots integrated into tools such as Google Workspace or Chatgpt. These systems help us write, organize, search and even think. However, the vast majority of them are rented. We are not owners of the intelligence on which we depend. That means someone else can control it.
If your digital assistant disappears tomorrow, can you do anything about it? What happens if the company behind this changes the terms, restricts the functionality or monetizes its data in a way that did not expect? These are not theoretical concerns. They are already happening, and indicate a future that we must actively give.
David Minarsch is a speaker at consensus 2025 in Toronto from May 14 to 16.
As these agents integrate in everything, from our finances to our workflows and homes, bets around property become much higher. The rent is probably well for low risk tasks, such as a language model that helps you write emails. However, when your AI acts for you, it makes decisions with your money or manages critical parts of your life, property is not optional. It is essential.
What today’s business model implies for users
AI, as we know, is based on a rental economy. You pay access, monthly subscriptions or payment API for use, and change, get the “illusion” of control. However, behind the scene, platform suppliers have all the power. They choose which model of serving, what can your AI do, how it responds and if you can continue using it.
Let’s take a common example: a business team that uses an assistant with AI to automate tasks or generate ideas. That assistant could live inside a centralized SAAS tool. It can be fed by a closed model lodged on the server of another person and executed in their GPU. It could even be trained in your company’s own data: data that you no longer have completely loaded.
Now, imagine that the supplier begins to prioritize monetization, as Google Search does with its results promoted by advertising. As well as the search results are strongly influenced by payments and commercial interests, the same will probably happen with large language models (LLM). The assistant who based on the changes, biased answers to benefit the supplier’s business model, and there is nothing that can do. To start, you never had real control.
This is not just a commercial risk; It is also personal. In Italy, Chatgpt was temporarily prohibited in 2023 due to privacy problems. That left thousands without access during the night. In a world where people are building increasingly personal workflows around AI, this weakness is unacceptable.
On the issue of privacy, when it rents an AI, it often loads confidential data, sometimes without knowing it. These data can be registered, used to reset or even monetize. Centralized AI is opaque for design, and with the increase in geopolitical tensions and regulations that change rapidly, depending completely on another person’s infrastructure is a growing responsibility.
What means to own your agent
Unlike liabilities models, agents are dynamic systems that can take independent actions. Property means controlling the central logic of an agent, decision -making parameters and data processing. Imagine an agent who can administer resources autonomously, track expenses, establish budgets and make financial decisions in your name.
This naturally leads us to explore advanced infrastructure such as web3 and neobanking systems, which offer programmable ways to manage digital assets. A property agent can operate independently within the clear and defined by the user limits, transforming AI of a receptive tool to a proactive and personalized system that really works for you.
With the real property, you know exactly what model you are using and can change the underlying model if necessary. You can update or customize your agent without waiting for a supplier. You can pause it, duplicate or transfer it to another device. And, most importantly, you can use it without filtering data or trusting a single centralized guardian.
In waves, we have been building to this future with Pearl, an AI Agent application store made as a desktop application that allows users to execute self -employed agents with only one click while they retain the total property. Today, Pearl contains a series of use cases that are mainly directed to web3 users to abstract the complexity of cryptographic interactions, with a growing approach in web2 use cases. Pearl agents hold their own wallets, operate using open source AI models and act independently on the username.
When Pearl launches, it’s like entering an application store for agents. You can choose one to administer your defi portfolio. You can execute another that manages research or content generation. These agents do not need constant indications; They are autonomous and yours. Pass the agent who rent to win the agent he owns.
We design pearl for cryptographic users who already understand the importance of having their keys. However, the idea of taking Autocustody not only of their funds but also its scale far beyond defi. Imagine an agent that controls the automation of your home, complements your social interactions or coordinates multiple tools at work. If these agents are rented, do not control them completely. If you do not control them completely, you are subcontracting more and more central parts of your life.
This movement is not just about tools; This is agency. If we cannot change towards open and property of users, we run the risk of re -focusing power in the hands of some dominant players. But if we succeed, we unlock a new type of freedom, where intelligence is not rented but is truly its own, with each human complemented by an “army” of software agents.
It is not just idealism. It is good security. Open source AI is auditable and pairs. The closed models are black boxes. If one day a humanoid robot is living in your home one day, do you want the code that executes it owns and controlled by a supplier of foreign clouds? Or do you want to know exactly what you are doing?
We have one option: we can continue renting, trusting and waiting for anything to break, or we can take possession of our tools, data, decisions and future.
The user property is not just the best option. He is the only one who respects the intelligence of the person who uses it.
Read more: the wave mech market allows agents to hire themselves in search of help
