Introducing DeAI: Blockchain Meets AI

Exploring the People and Products in the DeAI space

I recently gave the keynote speech for Asia’s first ever DeAI hackathon, hosted by ELNA.ai (video below). In preparing for that speech, I thought deeply about what is possible when you combine blockchain and AI, not from a philosophical “we need to save the world from centralized AI” kind of way, but from a practical “what kind of products can be built” kind of way. I started with the simple premise:

What unique features does blockchain have and how can those features be useful in AI?

And in answering that question, I came up with dozens of AI products that are only possible by leveraging blockchain technology. Some of these potential products would be clones of web2 products, but with a specific competitive advantage. And some of these potential products would be completely new product lines that don’t exist today.

Pause now and consider the above question for yourself. I think you’ll be amazed at what is possible. I’ll give my answer below.

Decentralized AI Leadership

There’s a lack of leadership within the decentralized AI space right now. There are many people building interesting infrastructure, tools and products, but very few who are focused on bringing attention to those people and products. This publication aims to correct that. I plan to highlight the incredible products that are either being built, or already built, and talk to the people behind those projects. My hope is that this publication can bring light to the amazing work these people are doing, and in doing so, bring awareness to the general public regarding DeAI.

Blockchain + AI

So what features of blockchain did you identify and how are those features useful in AI? Give your answers in the comments below. For me, here’s the blockchain features I believe are most relevant to AI:

• Cheap financial rails - the ability process microtransactions at a very small cost and with near instantaneous finality.

• Digital Ownership - the ability to assign ownership of any digital asset, including images, audio, video, text and code.

• Privacy, censorship-resistance, tamperproof - the ability to fully control access to digital assets and prevent unauthorized access or tampering.

• Transparency - the ability to execute immutable logs.

• Removal of trust assumption - the ability to democratize development and deployment of AI.

I have specific products in mind that could be built with those features, but I’ll save that content for future editions of this publication. In the meantime, if you want to hear more, check out the keynote speech: