Illia Polosukhin: Why AI Agents Are Still Useless (And What Fixes Them) | NEAR Founder on IronClaw

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.------📣SPOTIFY PREMIUM RSS FEED | USE CODE: SPOTIFY24https://bankless.cc/spotify-premium------🔮POLYMARKET | #1 PREDICTION MARKEThttps://bankless.cc/polymarket-podcast 🪐GALAXY | INSTITUTIONAL DIGITAL FINANCEhttps://bankless.cc/galaxy-podcast 🏅BITGET TRADFI | TRADE GOLD WITH USDThttps://bankless.cc/bitget🎯THE DEFI REPORT | ONCHAIN INSIGHTShttps://thedefireport.io/bankless🐇MEGAETH | 1ST REAL-TIME BLOCKCHAINhttps://bankless.cc/megaeth------TIMESTAMPS0:00 Intro0:43 Illia’s AI Journey8:19 AI x Blockchain Operating Systems14:40 Will Humans & AIs Use the Same Systems?18:20 Why Are AI Agents Still Useless?28:54 AI Agent Privacy Concerns35:30 IronClaw Privacy39:21 AI Agent Limitations47:00 Context Constraints53:42 Will Small Teams Win?57:16 Autonomous Agents & Businesses1:01:00 Digital Life Forms?1:02:42 e/acc Vs d/acc1:09:44 Why isn’t AI Crypto-Pilled1:14:31 Advice for Builders1:18:30 Closing & Disclaimers------RESOURCESIlliahttps://x.com/ilblackdragon IronClawhttps://agent.near.ai/NEARhttps://www.near.org/ Attention is All You Needhttps://arxiv.org/html/1706.03762v7 ------Not financial or tax advice. See our investment disclosures here:https://www.bankless.com/disclosures⁠