The Next Digital Frontier: User-Owned AI, Agents, & Open Infrastructure with George Zeng of NEAR

Episode notes

In this episode of The Smart Economy Podcast, host Dylan Grabowski is joined by George Zeng, chief product officer at the NEAR Protocol, a blockchain ecosystem building infrastructure for user-owned AI and decentralized applications. What you’ll learn: - Why AI agents could become the primary interface for interacting with the internet - How enterprise AI is evolving around privacy, security, and multi-agent coordination - Why interface design often determines which technologies reach mass adoption - How crypto infrastructure can support payments, identity, and coordination for AI systems - Why the next major crypto breakthrough may emerge outside current narratives - How managing multiple AI agents introduces new UX and product challenges - Why balancing usability, privacy, and control is critical for future AI systems - And much more! George Zeng is the chief product officer at the NEAR Protocol, where he focuses on advancing user-owned AI and decentralized infrastructure at the intersection of crypto and artificial intelligence.