AI, agents, robots: our insane WestWorld future

About this episode

John Koetsier discusses the future of a hybrid economy powered by AI agents and robots with Jensen Teng, CEO of Virtuals.

Is your AI agent running a restaurant — or a factory — while you sleep? In this episode of TechFirst, John Koetsier sits down with Jensen Teng, CEO and co-founder of Virtuals, to unpack one of the boldest (or craziest) visions in tech today: a hybrid economy powered by AI agents, humanoid robots, teleoperation, and blockchain coordination. An economy that may not really need humans for much at all ... Virtuos has already facilitated: • $14B in tokenized asset trading • $30M+ raised for founders • 100+ live AI agents • $500M in “agentic GDP” Now they’re expanding into embodied AI — launching EastWorlds, a vertically integrated robotics incubator with 30 Unitree G1 humanoids in a 10,000 sq. ft. lab. We cover: • What “agentic GDP” really means • How AI agents coordinate using blockchain • Why teleoperation is the bridge to full autonomy • The economics of outsourcing physical labor via robots • Why security guards may be a Day 1 use case • The data gap holding back robotics • Tokenization as a potential solution to AI-era inequality • Whether this future looks more like Stripe… or Westworld This isn’t sci-fi. It’s already underway. ⸻ Guest Jensen Teng CEO & Co-founder, Virtuals…

People in this episode

Host: John Koetsier

Guest: Jensen Teng

Topics covered

• AI
• agents
• robots
• hybrid economy
• blockchain
• teleoperation
• automation

Keywords

• agentic GDP
• tokenization
• robotics
• humanoid robots
• security guards

Mentioned in this episode

Products: Unitree G1, EastWorlds

Books & works: Westworld, The Wild Vision: AI Agents Running the World, Westworld, Stripe & the Payments Layer

Places: WestWorld

More episodes of TechFirst with John Koetsier

• Goodbye wheelchairs. Hello Cruz: autonomous mobility pods · June 10, 2026 · 21 min
• AI & education: disaster or destiny? · May 14, 2026 · 19 min
• Roomba CEO's new home robot: not humanoid! · May 12, 2026 · 23 min
• AI-native manufacturing · April 20, 2026 · 36 min
• Quantum navigation: Unhackable, GPS-free · April 15, 2026 · 14 min
• Are AI agents the new apps? · April 7, 2026 · 29 min