AI, agents, robots: our insane WestWorld future

NEXT with John Koetsier · Feb 23, 2026 · 26m

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…