Charles Hoskinson Explains Input Output’s AI Experiments and Midnight City Plans

Charles Hoskinson used a new video to explain how Input Output is changing its public communication model and why AI agents are becoming part of the company’s product and communications experiments. The comments followed criticism of an AI generated influencer post shared through the Input Output X account, which some community members interpreted as a message about replacing Cardano content creators.

Hoskinson said the post was connected to testing around Midnight City, digital twins, agent led communication and scalable community systems. He also connected the discussion to Midnight Passport, proof of human verification and the growing risk of AI based impersonation.

Input Output Moves Toward Faster Startup Style Communication

Hoskinson said Input Output previously operated with a more traditional communications process, where official posts went through multiple layers of review, including legal and internal checks. He described that model as slow and heavily curated, adding that the company has since reduced the size of the team managing the account and given it more freedom to test new formats.

According to Hoskinson, the Input Output X account now shares material related to several ventures connected to the broader Input Output group, including Cardano, Midnight, Midnight City, RealFi, Pogan, Blockfrost and other projects. He said the new team was hired from inside the Cardano ecosystem and was encouraged to experiment with communication formats.

The AI influencer post came from that wider approach. Hoskinson said the post was made in good faith to test new possibilities around AI generated communication, but acknowledged that it was received negatively by parts of the Cardano community. He said the interpretation that Input Output was attacking Cardano KOLs or trying to replace creators with AI was not the intended message.

Midnight City Uses AI Agents in Product Testing

Hoskinson connected the AI influencer post to Midnight City, which he described as a digital environment built around agents, digital twins and user interaction with AI driven systems. He said the project is exploring how information can be organized and distributed when a digital world has many active events and a growing user base.

He said Midnight City could require AI based community and media systems if it reaches hundreds of thousands or millions of users. In that scenario, he said a communications team cannot scale linearly with the number of users, making agent led organization and broadcasting part of the product design.

Hoskinson said Midnight City is being measured through two internal concepts, watchability and empathy. Watchability refers to how interesting and engaging the game world is, while empathy refers to how lifelike and relatable the agents are to users. He said higher watchability can lower user acquisition costs, while higher empathy can reduce churn and increase engagement.

He also said Input Output is looking at partner driven integration across AI related projects and standards. In that context, he mentioned work connected to Omega Claw, OpenClaw, Hermes, Patrick Tobler’s technology, agentic trading and AI standards such as x402. He said the goal is to bring more users, transactions and activity into Midnight and the Cardano ecosystem.

Midnight Passport Connects AI Risk With Digital Identity

Hoskinson also connected AI generated media to a wider identity problem. He said voice cloning and video cloning are advancing quickly and predicted that near perfect voice copies could become possible within 12 to 24 months, with more advanced video synchronization following later. He described this as a growing information security risk, especially as impersonation becomes easier to scale.

He said Midnight and Midnight Passport were created in part to address that environment through proof of human and proof of human generated content. Midnight is designed around privacy and selective disclosure, allowing users and applications to prove specific facts without exposing unnecessary personal data. The $NIGHT ecosystem is positioned around that privacy and identity layer.

Hoskinson said stronger verification will become more relevant as AI generated voice, video and content become harder to distinguish from human activity. In his explanation, Midnight Passport would support that type of verification while preserving selective disclosure.

The video ended with Hoskinson placing the AI communication debate inside a wider Cardano growth argument. He said Input Output is experimenting with new product and communication models because the ecosystem needs more users, more transactions, more TVL and more commercial activity. He also referenced ongoing Cardano infrastructure work, including Leios, Peras, zero knowledge enhancements, trustless bridges and StarStream, while describing the company’s current direction as a move from pure infrastructure toward consumer products and commercialization. Hoskinson presented the AI influencer post as one example of Input Output’s testing around communication, AI agents and product scaling across Cardano and Midnight related initiatives, including $NIGHT.