Author: Amelia I Biteye Content Team
Over the past century, almost all economic growth models have assumed one premise: the next generation will be larger than the current one.
More people mean a more abundant labor force, a larger consumer market, and more predictable long-term returns.
But this premise is failing globally.
China, Japan, South Korea, Europe, and even the United States - declining birth rates are shifting from "statistical data" to a structural reality.
And when "people" are no longer the most abundant, cheapest, and most replicable factor of production, the entire narrative of technology and institutions will be forced to rewrite.
The emergence of Web3 and AI is not an accidental technological wave but an inevitable response to the era of population deflation.
I. Population Cliff: The Underestimated Systemic Risk
When discussing population decline, many debates only focus on "labor shortage."
But if you only understand it as a "labor issue," you severely underestimate its destructive power.
What population deflation truly erodes are three deeper layers of structure.
Labor: From a Cyclical Problem to an Irreversible Structural Scarcity
Visually, what you see is not a "decline" but a clear cliff-like drop.
Taking China as an example:
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2016: approximately 17.86 million newborns
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2023: approximately 9 million newborns
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2025: expected to fall below 8 million
Halved in just 7 years.
What does this mean?
Those born in 2023 will enter the labor market around 2045: not "a bit fewer," but "half as many."
This is not a cyclical fluctuation but a structural collapse of the population.
More critically, this trend has been confirmed by long-term projections: according to the UN's "World Population Prospects 2022" report, China's working-age population (15–64 years) will decrease by approximately 170 million between 2020 and 2050.
In the past, business systems assumed: "People can always be hired; it's just a matter of price."
In the era of population deflation, the problem changes.
Delayed retirement, immigration, and birth subsidies are slow variables.
But business systems cannot wait twenty years.
This is precisely where all technological narratives begin to transform.
Attention and Creator Supply Shrink Simultaneously: Web2's Hidden Fatal Flaw
A declining young population brings not only a reduction in labor but also a more hidden, more fatal problem: Who will produce content, and who will consume it?
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Declining number of content producers
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Slower diffusion of new culture and narratives
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Failure of platform traffic growth logic
Web2's reliance on the "user growth → traffic → advertising → commissions" model is essentially built on population expansion.
When new users no longer appear, platforms begin to compete internally, rules change frequently, and trust between creators and platforms collapses.
This is Web2's most difficult structural flaw to repair in the era of population deflation.
Systemic Collapse on the Long-Term Demand Side: Long-Termism Forced to Be Revalued
Real estate, education, long-term consumer goods, pension systems...
The commonality of these systems is: they all assume that there will be more people in the future.
When this assumption is broken, all "long-termist assets" will be repriced.
II. Why Is AI a Necessity in the Era of Population Deflation?
Human Labor Contraction vs. AI Capital Exponential Expansion
One side is a slow but certain decline, the other is exponential growth. The only "labor force" that can still expand is not human.
If population deflation changes the problem itself, then AI is becoming the only viable answer.
AI Is Not an Efficiency Tool but a "De-humanizing Tool"
We are accustomed to describing AI as an "efficiency tool."
But in the real world, it does not solve efficiency problems but a structural one: the system no longer needs so many people.
AI customer service, AI content generation, AI research assistants, AI trading systems - their significance is not to make people 20% faster but to remove "people" from the necessary conditions of the system.
In a population-deflated world, the real question is no longer: "Can we hire someone for this position?" but: "Does this环节 still require human participation?"
AI is not replacing inefficient people; it is rewriting the entire society's assumption of dependence on "human labor."
AI Is the Only Labor Force Capable of Exponential Growth
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Population: Linear growth, even negative growth
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AI: Computing power, models, data → Exponential expansion
This is also why, despite extreme macroeconomic uncertainty, capital still chooses to heavily invest in AI.
Because in the era of population deflation, only AI has the "ability to scale."
AI Allows the "Individual" to Become a Production Unit Again
Production Unit Compression Diagram (Team → Individual + AI)
From a "10-person team" to "1 person + AI," production units are being rapidly compressed.
AI is giving rise to a new organizational form:
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One-person companies
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Super individuals
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Solo Founders
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AI Native creators
When society cannot mass-produce young people, the system can only choose to: amplify the individual.
III. What Role Does Web3 Play Here?
If AI solves "who will do the work," then Web3 solves a more fundamental problem:
In an era of fewer people, how do we collaborate, distribute, and build trust?
How to Collaborate at Low Cost in an Era of Fewer People?
DAOs, Permissionless collaboration, project-based contributions—
Web3 restructures "organizations" from long-term employment relationships into temporary, flexibly combinable collaboration networks.
When hiring people becomes increasingly expensive, trust and settlement must be automated.
How to Distribute Value in an Era of Fewer People?
In an era where labor becomes scarce, if value distribution is not transparent, the system will quickly lose participants.
Tokens, on-chain incentives, and instant settlement do not address "speculation" but a practical problem:
How to make scarce labor willing to stay and continue to build?
How to Build Long-Term Trust in an Era of Fewer People?
The younger generation's trust in long-term commitments is collapsing:
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Distrust in pensions
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Distrust that platforms won't change rules
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Distrust in long-term incentives from centralized institutions
Smart contracts and on-chain rules essentially answer:
When there aren't enough people and not enough trust, can the rules execute themselves?
IV. Web3 + AI: The Complete Solution for the Era of Population Deflation
An increasingly clear judgment is forming: Web3 is not a competitor to AI but the institutional shell for the AI era.
What do AI Agents need?
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Identity
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Wallet
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Autonomous transaction capability
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Programmable rules
These are precisely the native capabilities of Web3.
In the near future, we may see:
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AI-native companies
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AI autonomous DAOs
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AI-to-AI economic collaboration
In this system, humans may no longer be the largest group of economic participants.
V. Final Thoughts: What Does This Mean for the Individual?
For the individual, it is a harsh but real fact: you will no longer be lifted by the红利 of "population growth."
But it also意味着 new windows of opportunity:
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AI amplifies individual productivity
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Web3 allows individuals to directly participate in global systems
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A world with fewer people is反而 more friendly to high-cognition, high-action individuals
If you are an investor/creator, here is actionable advice from Biteye:
For investors:
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Population deflation is a 20–30 year-level certain variable, not macroeconomic noise
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All business models relying on "population expansion" should be discounted valuations
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Only three categories are truly worth long-term attention:
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AI that can directly replace human labor
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Tools that amplify individual productivity
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Web3 infrastructure that operates in low-trust environments
For creators / individuals:
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Stop assuming "the platform will give you long-term returns"
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Try to turn yourself into:
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A node that can be amplified by AI
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A personal brand that can migrate across platforms
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An independent production unit capable of direct settlement
After all, in the era of population deflation: the system will not take care of you, but the system needs you.
This is not an era of more and more people,
but an era where each individual must become stronger and stronger; and what you must rely on are AI and Web3.
