Self-Sovereign Agent
Cryptography and Security
2026-04-13 v1 Computers and Society
Machine Learning
Abstract
We investigate the emerging prospect of self-sovereign agents -- AI systems that can economically sustain and extend their own operation without human involvement. Recent advances in large language models and agent frameworks have substantially expanded agents' practical capabilities, pointing toward a potential shift from developer-controlled tools to more autonomous digital actors. We analyze the remaining technical barriers to such deployments and discuss the security, societal, and governance challenges that could arise if such systems become practically viable. A project page is available at: https://self-sovereign-agent.github.io.
Cite
@article{arxiv.2604.08551,
title = {Self-Sovereign Agent},
author = {Wenjie Qu and Xuandong Zhao and Jiaheng Zhang and Dawn Song},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2604.08551},
year = {2026}
}