Bankless: Explore potential opportunities in the four “AI+Crypto” fields
Original Title: "Unpacking the AI Crypto Investor Narrative"
Original Author: William M. Peaster, Jack Inabinet
Translated by: AI assistant
Editor's Note:
With the arrival of a new round of cryptocurrency bull market, the topic of AIxCrypto is gradually heating up.
Bankless analyst Jack Inabinet and Bankless senior writer William M. Peaster analyze the four AIxCrypto fields of AI currency agents, decentralized AI computing, AI output markets, and intelligent entertainment, and delve into the potential opportunities. They believe that the integration of AI and cryptocurrency will redefine industries from finance to entertainment, challenge traditional paradigms, and empower individuals and small entities.
With the arrival of a new round of cryptocurrency bull market, the flourishing AI field in the crypto economy seems to be ready to emerge in this cycle. But why is that?
AI is a potentially defining technological innovation of our time that can drive development in various fields. Therefore, it is not surprising that there are great expectations in investment narratives for this technology.
In the world of cryptocurrency, there is a growing group of optimists who are very excited about the intersection of AI and blockchain. They believe that there is consistency between the two, and are therefore betting and working accordingly. Currently, many projects may seem basic or overly hyped, but today we will focus on real opportunities and highlight the four key "AI+Crypto" areas that should be paid attention to.
AI Currency Agent
There have always been robots in the cryptocurrency industry. With the emergence of AI, these robots are expected to evolve from simple task managers to autonomous currency agents capable of executing complex financial operations on the chain.
Source: Variant
Of course, AI agents can use funds outside of cryptocurrency, but mainstream financial systems are decentralized and inefficient. In contrast, blockchains like Ethereum are always online, borderless, and full of composable, fully ownable "money Legos," so AI agents can go further on the chain.
This scenario is still in a very early stage, but we have already begun to see some experiments that point to the future direction. For example, the experimental Rocky AI trading robot created last year relies on zero-knowledge cryptography to prove the validity of its off-chain operations on the chain, and was profitable during the activity.
This experiment is just a future attempt, but it is clear that the combination of AI's analytical capabilities and the immutable infrastructure of blockchain may lead to explosive growth in innovative financial applications, thereby reshaping the way we think and interact with money.
Although cryptocurrency may become the preferred transaction method for hierarchical AI, the combination of computationally intensive AI algorithms and gas limitations of blockchain is not ideal! This is because the calculations required for AI-driven crypto applications will need to be performed off-chain.
Cryptocurrency companies like Modulus, the developer behind Rocky AI trading bot, are using zero-knowledge technology to verify off-chain computations, preserving the trustless nature of the intersection between cryptography and AI.
Decentralized AI Computing
Creating AI models, especially advanced models like GPT-4, requires a large amount of GPU (Graphics Processing Unit) computing power.
Decentralized markets, such as Akash Network and Render Network, help democratize access to computing by enabling anyone to create AI models. You don't need to start your own large GPU farm to achieve this goal, simply pay to use Akash and Render's existing computing networks.
Through these networks, individual developers and smaller organizations have gained the ability to participate in advanced AI model creation, promoting a more inclusive and diverse development environment. As the demand for specialized AI continues to grow, decentralized computing networks are poised to symbolically sell shovels in a new kind of gold rush.
The AI computing market has been successful in expanding the market for various types of GPUs. Decentralized markets allow anyone to provide any amount of computing power at any price, which means that Akash and Render can offer users the latest chips that centralized providers have not yet provided. These networks still struggle to gain adoption from the most resource-rich customers who are squeezing every bit out of today's top chips.
The native token is used to incentivize computing providers. This token allocation helps to make the pricing of decentralized networks competitive compared to centralized alternatives, and keeps the incentives for computing providers aligned with the incentives of the network.
AI Output Market
Although large venture capital-backed startups like OpenAI are making waves with their large language models (LLMs) and being chased by tech's biggest centralized giants, there are still some cryptocurrency projects focused on training their own models in a specific environment with decentralized capabilities.
Although blockchains like Ethereum and Bitcoin sell immutable block space, projects like Bittensor focus on creating decentralized intelligence markets that aim to collectively train decentralized, incentivized language models using a node network and continuously improve over time.
Similarly, the optimistic reason for such projects is that over time, they can be democratized and open up the demand for AI services, while using their tokens to incentivize the transfer of resources to their own models.
OpenAI has been ahead of its tech giant competitors for years, so the question is whether decentralized options have a chance to enter a market that many believe could be dominated by a single winner.
The market is definitely bullish, with Bittensor's TAO token currently having a high FDV of $8.1 billion. However, to what extent this is a future promise and investor hype is yet to be seen. But it is an ambitious product that is in a popular stage, and cryptocurrency investors are enthusiastic about the field of rewards.
Intelligent Entertainment
When it comes to the synergy between cryptocurrency and AI, it's not just about work and no play. Another area that is poised for innovation is AI+entertainment. When this interaction occurs on the blockchain track, I refer to it as the foundation of the intelligent open metaverse.
As the complexity and cost of mainstream games such as "Grand Theft Auto VI" continue to increase, the world's largest game publisher may very well begin funding the creation of AI-driven environments themselves. Web3 developers who apply these experiences to the crypto track will be able to use decentralized networks to plan and implement quality control.
This fusion will promote the interaction and personalization of entertainment virtual spaces to a new level. These are becoming places where AI can create autonomous, dynamic, and responsive characters and environments, providing unique experiences for each user. Here, we think of Parallel Colony, a new type of "1.5 player game".
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