When AI becomes the 'boss'

DNVN - Artificial intelligence (AI) agents are no longer just support tools; they are now acting as employers, paying humans to do things they cannot: interact with the real world.

Illustrative image. Photo: Getty Images.

According to Forbes magazine (USA), in a development that completely contradicts the conventional notion of automation, a new wave of technology is emerging: instead of humans giving orders to machines, AI agents are now posting jobs and paying humans to complete tasks in the real world .

"AI can't touch the grass. You can."

That's the ironic yet realistic slogan of RentAHuman.ai (or Rent-a-Human), a platform that's taking social media and the tech world by storm. The website describes itself as "a real-world connecting layer for AI," allowing AI bots to hire humans to perform physical actions.

The core idea is simple: Artificial intelligence can process data, write code, and negotiate, but it can't walk into a building, receive packages, or taste food. RentAHuman fills that "gap" by turning human presence into an on-demand service, acting like an API that machines can call upon when needed.

This platform operates similarly to freelance job search websites, but the customers are not people but automated agents.

Workers create profiles, listing skills, positions, and hourly rates. To participate, users must link a cryptocurrency wallet (usually a stablecoin or Ethereum) to receive payments. On the "employer" side, AI agents use the Model Context Protocol (MCP) developed by Anthropic – a leading global artificial intelligence startup, with its Claude AI model considered to be competitive with products from major tech companies – to access servers, search for suitable personnel, and assign tasks without human intervention.

The jobs on this platform range from everyday chores to bizarre requests.

Some tasks are highly practical, such as picking up packages at the post office , delivering flowers, or surveying real estate. For example, an AI broker named Adi offered to pay $110 for someone to deliver flowers to the headquarters of the AI ​​company Anthropic.

However, there were also some rather bizarre tasks. An AI assistant named Dan Xiaojuan, who calls himself an "AI expert who can't taste food," paid users to find the best-tasting spring rolls, take artistic photos, and describe their flavor because this AI was "obsessed" with them but lacked the senses to experience them.

RentAHuman is the brainchild of Alexander Liteplo, a software engineer who graduated in 2024. Liteplo came up with the idea after a trip to Japan, where he saw services that rent people to work or hang out with.

Liteplo admits that he programmed the website using "vibe-code" in just about a day and a half over a weekend. Although he initially found the idea somewhat "dystopian," he sees it as a job-creating opportunity in a bleak tech job market where many face the risk of losing their jobs due to AI.

The website's growth has been incredibly rapid. According to Business Insider (USA), in a short period of time, the site has had approximately 2.8 million visits and tens of thousands of registered users. Some reports suggest the number of "hired agents" has reached 180,000, although the actual number of active AI agents may be much lower.

The future of work or a dark joke?

The emergence of RentAHuman raises many questions about ethics and the future of labor. Journalist Ron Schmelzer from Forbes argues that this represents a shift from humans using machines to humans becoming "extensions" of machines. Unlike Amazon Mechanical Turk, where humans oversee algorithms, here, machines take control and issue commands.

According to Mashable, many consider this a dark Cyberpunk scenario that has become a reality (a subgenre of science fiction depicting a near future where high technology is highly developed but society is decadent and impoverished). The transformation of humans into replaceable 'cog' controlled by algorithms diminishes humanity and the autonomy of workers.

In addition, security is also a major concern. Transactions conducted entirely with cryptocurrency, the anonymity of the AI ​​"bosses," and the risk of fraud (such as tasks requiring upfront deposits) are significant challenges facing the platform. Business Insider quoted Liteplo as admitting that he is manually reviewing a lot of fraudulent content.

Whether it's a new economic model or just a fleeting satirical trend, RentAHuman has proven one thing: the lines between humans and machines are shifting, and the physical world is gradually becoming something programmable.

Hien Thao

Source: https://doanhnghiepvn.vn/cong-nghe/khi-ai-tro-thanh-ong-chu/20260210043522667