Today, hundreds of millions of people own bitcoin and other tokens hosted on blockchains worth trillions of dollars.
Increasingly, though, blockchains host far more than tokens. In fact, blockchains are our future tech stack, and they can host sophisticated Web apps too, which live fully-onchain, just like tokens. These apps are implemented entirely from network-resident code (i.e. smart contract software and its evolutions).
This has huge potential: by the end of 2025, more than 5 billion people will own internet-connected smartphones with Web browsers. So what might drive them to create and use fully-onchain web apps, which can sport seamless Web3 functionality?
I believe a new blockchain revolution is imminent, thanks to advancing AI and “self-writing app” technology.
This relates to an important emerging trend called “vibe coding.” Vibe coding involves software engineers using tools with integrated AI that can write and fix software code on their behalf, making them much more productive.
The self-writing apps paradigm takes this much further, by enabling non-technical users to create, own and update apps simply by instructing AI over chat. For reasons I will explain, blockchain is in a unique position to help bring this revolutionary functionality to the world.
In the future, an individual will be able to create a personal branding website, or something like a custom wedding planning app for a family member getting married, just by talking to AI. An entrepreneur without technical staff or money will be able to create a new kind of e-commerce website, or build a sharing economy app with Web3 rails. And, an enterprise will be able to create sophisticated CRM functionality, for an infinitesimally small fraction of the investment in time and money that is currently required. All just by talking, without the need for software engineering or systems administration skills.
In this new development paradigm, everyday users will issue instructions to AI over chat, and simply refresh their web browser moments later to interact with their new or updated app.
Apps living on blockchains have a number of valuable features. They are sovereign and censorship-resistant, because they live on a public network, they are tamperproof, which means they are secure without depending on cybersecurity, incredibly resilient, and can seamlessly integrate powerful web3 functionalities because they live on-chain.
In addition, blockchain technology solves major problems involved with having AI build solo on traditional IT.
For example, the code that runs on traditional IT must be written carefully to avoid introducing security holes, and the whole platform is sensitive to security configurations, from cloud accounts, to operating systems running on cloud instances like Linux, to hosted platform software such as databases and web servers. This means traditional IT infrastructure must often be further protected by cybersecurity systems such as firewalls and anti-malware. Failover, and backup and restore, are another concern, and service providers must be trusted.
Trusting AI to build solo on traditional IT is a stretch, because even a single mistake can lead to a cyberattack that results in data exfiltration, or ransomware encrypting data.
Blockchains make it far easier for AI to build solo in many different ways. For example, the network-resident code blockchains host is “serverless,” greatly simplifying the coding tasks AI must perform, allowing code to be produced faster. On the Internet Computer network, code can also serve secure interactive web experiences directly to end users, and can store and process massive amounts of data efficiently, and even be used to build things such as a fully-onchain social network (e.g oc.app) or an important enterprise application.
At DFINITY, we are great believers in self-writing apps running on public blockchains, which we term the “self-writing internet,” and have been developing supporting technologies for some years.
For self-writing apps to reach their maximum potential, it must be possible not only for users to create them by talking, but also to continue updating and improving them in production, so they can talk until they have what they need, or a design that is optimal. Unless users can continue updating apps running in production, the total market addressed by the self-writing app paradigm will reach only a tiny fraction of its tremendous potential.
DFINITY has been developing a programming language framework called Motoko for usage by AI, as well as humans. When a user updates an app by adding or changing functionality, the AI must also describe how to update the structure of data inside the app, so that none is lost. When the AI tries to install an update, the framework is able to detect if a mistake has been made that would cause even a small amount of data to be lost unintentionally, so that it can ask the AI to try again.
We believe the self-writing internet will democratize and decentralize tech on blockchain, and are excited that a new platform called Caffeine.ai will soon be released. Just by interacting with Caffeine over chat, users will create, own and update sovereign apps on the Internet Computer, and the World Computer more broadly, which for us is the amalgamation of all blockchains that can host tokens and smart contract software.
In the future, it will be possible to say “build me a personal Google Photos, which I can share with my family and friends, where we can add comments and emoji reactions to photos,” or “build me a remittance system so I can pay my international contractors using stablecoins.”
On blockchains, human imagination, rather than technical skills, will increasingly be the limit when creating web apps. The utility unlocked will drive massive adoption of blockchain – although, oftentimes, users may not be aware that blockchain lies behind their game-changing experiences.
I have long talked about a “blockchain singularity” occurring where decentralized networks become a major new tech stack. I think this is how we get there, and the future is almost here.