Charles Hoskinson Says Big Tech Is ‘Terrified’ as AI Agents Could Surpass Human Relevance by 2035

Charles Hoskinson, founder and CEO of Cardano’s Input Output, said companies like Google, Amazon, and Facebook are deeply concerned because AI agents are unlikely to respond to advertising the same way humans do.

Charles Hoskinson said AI agents could become more influential than humans on the internet within the next decade, a transition that is already pushing Google, Facebook, and Amazon to adapt.

During his keynote speech at the Consensus Miami 2026 on Wednesday, Charles Hoskinson also stated that “by 2035, the majority of searches, commerce and activity on the internet will be AI agents instead of people.”

He said the shift could threaten existing business models. Charles Hoskinson said companies like Google, Amazon, and Facebook are “terrified of the agentic revolution,” adding that massive investments are being made because their current business models could face major disruption.

Charles Hoskinson explained that AI agents do not click on advertisements or develop brand loyalty, saying this could threaten the ad-based business models used by platforms such as Google, Amazon, and Facebook.

“Why do you think Google is interested in x402?” Charles Hoskinson asked the audience, referring to the Coinbase-backed protocol that allows AI agents and applications to make direct automated payments over the internet using stablecoins and crypto infrastructure.

Charles Hoskinson said this transition could reshape how crypto is used, adding that AI will increasingly manage tasks such as due diligence, transaction processing, and interactions with decentralized finance platforms.

Crypto Leaders See AI Agents Reshaping Digital Finance#

Charles Hoskinson’s prediction about AI agents mirrors comments made by Brian Armstrong, who said AI agents could soon outnumber humans in financial transactions, and Changpeng Zhao, who predicted they may eventually process millions more payments than people.

On the other hand, Charles Hoskinson said AI agents could become “the single best thing to ever happen to cryptocurrencies” because they make the user experience much simpler and more accessible.

Charles Hoskinson warned crypto users against depending too heavily on intermediaries instead of keeping direct control over their assets, saying that personal ownership was one of the core principles cryptocurrencies were originally built on.

“You need to control your own data, identity, and money,” Charles Hoskinson said, adding that many users are handing that responsibility over to custodial wallets, permissioned networks, and third parties they may later regret trusting if their accounts get restricted or shut down.

Charles Hoskinson also highlighted fragmentation across blockchain ecosystems as a major obstacle to progress, saying it has slowed innovation and development. He noted that more than 11 million tokens have been created over the years and said the industry now needs greater cooperation and a stronger focus on achieving its broader mission.

Charles Hoskinson said user experience continues to be one of the biggest obstacles to wider crypto adoption, describing current onboarding processes as overly complicated and easy for users to mess up. “That is the user experience in 2026,” he said, questioning whether people would actually want to use products designed that way.

Charles Hoskinson said technologies like account abstraction and chain abstraction could make crypto systems much easier to use while still allowing users to keep control of their assets and digital identity.

Charles Hoskinson pointed to shifting views within major financial institutions, noting that JPMorgan Chase
once restricted crypto-related banking activity but is now developing blockchain-based products. “Back when we started, JPMorgan was shutting down people’s bank accounts, and now they have a blockchain product,” he said.