AI Tokens Surge After Franklin Templeton’s Predictions for AI Agents

AI agents have been gaining traction in the crypto space for some time now. Interestingly, several AI tokens experienced surges today following a new report from Franklin Templeton on AI agents.

The report predicted that AI agents will reshape content generation on social media and transform various industries.

Franklin Templeton’s Prediction: AI Agents Could Become the Next Big Thing

The asset manager admitted that there is merit to the excitement surrounding AI agents.

“We can envision a future where AI agents revolutionize content generation on social media and play an integral role across various industries and platforms,” Franklin Templeton wrote in its January 14 report. 

The firm added that, like today’s human influencers, these AI agents could “launch their own brands, products, music, movies and more, driving significant economic value to their ecosystems.”

AI agents, or agentic AI, refer to systems designed to make autonomous decisions and engage in goal-directed behavior. These entities can understand complex objectives, perform multi-step reasoning, and take actions with minimal human input. However, Franklin Templeton researchers noted that the technology is still in its early stages.

“Although these agents are not yet fully autonomous, and have little utility in their current state, this emerging sector may hold significant promise and is worth watching closely as it evolves and matures,” the report continued.

Templeton added that crypto AI Agents represent a novel convergence between AI and crypto. Crypto AI agents use artificial intelligence to handle tasks on blockchain networks — analyzing data, making decisions, and taking action.

The report has sparked renewed interest in several AI tokens within the crypto market, with some seeing notable gains. 

AI Agent projects like Virtuals Protocol and AI16z saw significant price jumps following the report’s release. VIRTUAL, for instance, surged nearly 8%, briefly topping $3 on January 15.

Most AI Tokens Logged Gains Over the Past 24 Hours. Source: CoinGecko

Similarly, AI16z saw a 17.5% increase and was trading at $1.35 at press time.

Other AI-related tokens also saw positive movement as well. AIXBT gained a whopping 28%, reaching around $0.7, while the Artificial Superintelligence Alliance token saw a 3.7% increase over the past 24 hours.

Franklin Templeton’s comments come amid much hype over the AI agent sector. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman recently predicted that AI agents will enter the workforce in 2025. Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang even called AI agents the next big leap in workforce evolution.