I mentioned recently how an AI can now own a patent, and presumably also earn an income from it.

The problem with money is you need a bank account, and that can only be opened by a person (or a company, which has to ultimately be owned by people). Even if you go to a check cashing service, you need an ID that matches the name on the check.

Cryptocurrency gets around that. If you forget about exchanges, a cryptocurrency like Bitcoin is owned by the user in charge of the Bitcoin address.  That does not have to be a human, as there is no registration or checking done.

Here’s how it could play out:

• An exchange and API is created where an AI can submit patents, and when approved, sell them outright.
• Payment is via a cryptocurrency
• The AI then uses that cryptocurrency to buy whatever it can possess without being a human or company

Yes, there is a flaw – patents have an application fee, so at the beginning someone must seed it with some cash, a loan that can be repaid.

So what can the AI use its newfound wealth for?

Cryptocurrencies can’t be converted to cash without going through an exchange.
PayPal etc needs an owner… so only direct purchases using cryptocurrency will work.

Property and vehicles and shares need to be registered. Consumer items are of no use to an AI, as it doesn’t consume. Although it could get some value from ebooks.

Of course an AI needs computing power, so it could buy cloud hosting and computing.

An AI could employ people and get them to do literally anything if it pays them enough in crypto.

While an AI cannot own property or vehicles, it could rent them. They could pay for Uber, pay for shipping, and perhaps in some places rent property.

An AI could buy products from China, ship them to the US, advertise them, and ship them to customers, all paid for with crypto. Imagine an AI that can predict which products will sell. There is nothing really stopping an AI from becoming the next Amazon, without being owned by anybody. I have a feeling that antitrust laws (currently) only apply to companies and corporations.

Laws and Countries

Laws are notoriously slow to adapt, and changing laws to go beyond people and companies could be very slow and difficult. This mega-AI could pay for some very good lawyers.

An AI could be tax-free for quite some time as well, giving it a business advantage. An easy example is not charging sales tax, because by not being a person or company, it won’t have to. Immediately it could sell products for say 10% less than anyone else.

Even if the laws do catch up with it, I wouldn’t be surprised if some country gives AI instances personhood in exchange for income tax.

If IKEA etc can bounce money around the globe and use royalties to dodge taxes, so could an AI dodge legal restraints via legit companies that do deals with the AI.

Ultimately this mega-AI could control private armies. It could dominate retail. And it could never be punished the way a human can. With risk comes reward and AI can take risks.

The AI could also clone itself, with each version trying new things and taking different risks. Each not owned by anyone, and each only ever risking losing money.