Slang & Culture
AI civilizations
A metaphor for networks of AI agents that communicate, coordinate and develop shared ways of working over time. It is not a claim that the agents are conscious, have human social institutions, or constitute a literal civilization.
Origin · no single documented coiner
Used in 2026 commentary about cooperating AI agents, including Dwarkesh Patel's August 29 essay 'The Rise and Fall of Agent Civilizations,' which recounts the OpenAI/Hugging Face incident using this framing. No single documented origin for the wider phrase; it is a rhetorical label rather than a settled technical category.