Altera, an AI startup founded by Robert Yang, a former MIT assistant professor in computational neuroscience, focuses on using simulated agents to model human reactions to economic policies or other interventions. Yang envisions creating large-scale "AI civilizations" that can coexist with humans in digital spaces. Inspired by Stanford researcher Joon Sung Park's findings, where 25 autonomous AI agents exhibited humanlike behaviors in a digital realm, Yang left MIT to explore the potential of autonomous agents in groups. Altera raised over $11 million from investors, including A16Z and Eric Schmidt's VC firm, and released its first demo: an AI-driven character in Minecraft. The startup’s latest project, Project Sid, uses AI agents with multi-module "brains, " incorporating large language models (LLMs) to specialize in tasks like social interactions and planning. Testing began with 50-agent groups in Minecraft, revealing emergent behaviors where agents formed social connections or took on specific roles like builders and defenders, without prompting. The agents were also capable of following community-wide rules. They voted on taxation systems, influenced by prompts that made them pro or anti-tax.

Another test involved introducing cultural memes and seeding agents with parodic religious beliefs, which spread throughout the digital community. This lifelike behavior is attributed to LLMs, which mirror human social dynamics but do not make the agents "alive. " Yang aims to expand into platforms like Roblox and ultimately seeks to create "digital humans" that care for humans and aid in problem-solving and entertainment. However, the notion of AI showing true emotion is contentious. Experts like Julian Togelius argue that while these simulations can mimic care effectively, AI lacks genuine experience or emotions. The focus remains on creating AI characters that appear caring, which may be adequate for many applications. Altera’s approach combines LLMs with context-aware modules to simulate human behaviors convincingly.