Who really checks your AI assistant? It’s a question that most people haven’t asked yet. Today, millions are dependent on digital assistants, from voice -controlled devices to smart bots embedded in tools such as Google Workspace or Chatgpt. These systems help us write, organize, search and even think. However, the vast majority of them are rented. We do not own the intelligence we are dependent on. This means that someone else gets to control it.

If your digital assistant disappears tomorrow, can you do something about it? What if the company behind it changes the conditions, limits the functionality or earning money on your data in ways you did not expect? This is not theoretical concerns. They are already happening and they point to a future that we must actively shape.

David Minarsch is a speaker in Consensus 2025 in Toronto 14-16. May.

As these agents are embedded in everything from our finances to our workflows and homes, the efforts around ownership become much higher. Rent is probably fine for low-effort tasks, like a language model that helps you write emails. But when your AI is acting for you, making decisions with your money or managing critical parts of your life, ownership is not optional. It’s important.

What today’s AI business model implies for users

AI, as we know, it is built on a rental economy. You pay for access, monthly subscriptions or APIs per Use, and in return you get the “illusion” of control. Behind the scenes, however, platform providers have all the power. They choose what the AI ​​model should earn, what your AI can do, how it reacts, and whether you get by using it.

Let’s take a regular example: A business team that uses an AI-driven assistant to automate tasks or generate insight. This assistant may live in a centralized SaaS tool. It can be powered by a closed model that hosts someone else’s server – and runs on their GPUs. It can even be trained in your company’s own data – data you no longer own fully when they are uploaded.

Now imagine that the provider is starting to prioritize monetization, just as Google Search does with its advertising -driven results. Just as search results are heavily influenced by paid locations and commercial interests, the same is likely to happen with large language models (LLMs). The assistant, you have been dependent on changes, skewed response to the benefit of the provider’s business model and there is nothing you can do. You’ve never had real control to begin with.

This is not just a business risk; It is also a personal. In Italy, Chatgpt was temporarily banned in 2023 due to concerns about privacy. That left thousands without access overnight. In a world where people build ever more personal workflows around AI, this weakness is unacceptable.

In the question of privacy, when you rent an AI, you often upload sensitive data, sometimes unconsciously. This data can be logged, used for retraining or even monetized. Centralized AI is opaque with design, and with geopolitical tensions that rise and rules that change rapidly, depending on another’s infrastructure is a growing responsibility.

What it means to really own your agent

Unlike passive AI models, agents are dynamic systems that can take independent actions. Ownership means controlling an agent’s core logic, decision -making parameters and data processing. Imagine an agent who can autonomously manage resources, track spending, set budgets and make financial decisions on your behalf.

Of course, this leads us to explore advanced infrastructures such as web3 and neobanking systems that offer programmable ways to manage digital assets. A owned agent can operate independently within clear, custom boundaries and transform AI from a responsive tool to a proactive, personal system that really works for you.

With genuine ownership, you know exactly which model you use and can change the underlying model if necessary. You can upgrade or customize your agent without waiting for a provider. You can pause it, duplicate it or transfer it to another device. And most importantly, you can use them without leaking data or relying on a single centralized portguard.

At Olas we have built against this future with Pearl, an AI Agent App Store that was realized as a desktop app that allows users to run autonomous AI agents with only one click while retaining full ownership. Today, Pearl contains a number of use cases that are primarily targeted at web3 users to abstract the complexity of crypto interactions, with an increasing focus on web2 use cases. Agents in pearls keep their own wallets, operate with the help of open source AI models and act independently on the user’s behalf.

When you start Pearl, it’s like getting into an app store for agents. You can choose one to manage your DEFI portfolio. You can run someone else handling research or content generation. These agents do not need constant encouragement; They are autonomous and yours. Go from paying for the agent you rent to earn from the agent you own.

We designed Pearl for crypto-native users who already understand the importance of owning their keys. The idea of ​​taking self-insurance of not only your funds but also your AI scales far beyond defi. Imagine an agent who controls your home automation, complements your social interactions or coordinates more tools at work. If these agents are rented, you do not check them fully. If you do not fully control them, you are increasingly outsourcing core parts of your life.

This movement is not just about tools; It’s about agency. If we do not change towards open, user -owned AI, we risk guarding the power of the hands of a few dominant players. But if we succeed, we unlock a new kind of freedom where intelligence is not rented, but really yours, with every human supplemented with an “army” of software agents.

It’s not just idealism. That’s good security. Open Source AI is the auditorious and the peer review. Closed models are black boxes. If a humanoid robot lives in your home one day, do you want the code to run it must be proprietary and controlled by a foreign cloud provider? Or do you want to be able to know exactly what it is doing?

We have a choice: We can continue to rent, trust and hope that nothing breaks down or we can take ownership of our tools, data, decisions and futures.

User owned AI is not only the better option. It is the only one who respects the intelligence of the person using it.

Read more: Olas’ Mech Marketplace allows AI agents to hire each other for help