Why Decentralized Artificial Intelligence Will Reinvent The Industry As We Know It Posted on : Nov 16 - 2017

Until recently, the contemporary AI industry had been built around a centralized distribution paradigm where machine learning solutions are delivered as a part of cloud-based APIs and software packages deployed on remote servers of AI providers. Now, we are moving toward the next frontier -- decentralized AI that can run and train on local devices or make decisions in decentralized networks like blockchain.

The transition to decentralized AI is enabled by new technologies, such as Google’s Federated Learning, that allow for crowd-training of ML algorithms, device-centric AI that runs and trains ML models on mobile devices and the use of AI in DAOs (decentralized autonomous organizations) on blockchain networks. As a venture studio partner specialized in artificial intelligence, entrepreneurs frequently ask me about the future of the industry and what will truly disrupt this space. In this article, I will discuss how decentralized AI works, what potential it has and, more importantly, what benefits can business owners and users extract from it.

Artificial Intelligence And Decentralized Organizations

One of the most exciting innovations of recent years is DAOs that run on Ethereum blockchain. In a nutshell, a DAO is a computer algorithm that implements token ownership rights, contractual obligations and business logic rules (e.g., when to sell, what to sell). When all these things are put together, we get an algorithmic company run via smart contracts that distributes value among its virtual shareholders. Such design is effective in the decentralized distribution of royalties, stock trading, crowd-funding, disbursements of micro-payments, subscriptions payments, prediction markets and more.

AI DAOs emerge when we entrust some or all decision-making responsibilities to AI agents on the blockchain. AI in DAOs can be implemented in several ways. If you are a holder of ownership rights in some DAOs, you can cede your decision making (e.g., yes/no votes) to an AI agent (another smart contract) that will make all decisions for you. Or, in a more radical scenario, we can put AI at the center of the DAO, making it a de facto manager responsible for all organizational and business decisions. For example, imagine an AI DAO for marketing where the AI manager selects the best companies or users to place your ads with. After each marketing cycle, the AI would assess the ROI and adjust its marketing policies accordingly. View More