Tech
Focus on the most interesting AI opportunities in cryptocurrencies
SeparatelyCrypto and AI are two of the most exciting technological breakthroughs of our era.
But when you combine the twothings get even more interesting.
Now there is consensus on this Crypto x AI will be one of the most interesting narratives of this cycle. You can already see it happening: some early investors in AI tokens have seen their bets pay off big time.
But let’s be honest: the Crypto x AI scene is still pretty new.
Today’s article provides an overview of what is happening in this booming industry. We’ll look at the different areas where cryptocurrencies and AI intersect and highlight some of the best projects out there. 👇
This is the AI x Crypto cycle on Bankless
AI x Crypto is real. The fundamentals are there, as is the speculative degeneration.
An overview of Crypto x AI
AI has traditionally been a playground for big players. There are a couple of big reasons for this:
- High costs – developing AI technology requires a ton of computing power. It’s not cheap, and usually only tech giants have the deep pockets to afford the necessary hardware, creating a barrier to entry for smaller entities.
- Data monopolies – AI models require a lot of data to train on. Large companies sit on mountains of user data with which they can build advanced AI models.
Put these two aspects together and you’ll discover why it represents a huge competitive advantage for large companies.
Think about it: a handful of companies hold the majority of our data, and they’re all building their own AI technology: Google has Gemini, Twitter is rolling with Grok, and OpenAI has made waves with ChatGPT.
So, how can we level the playing field for AI technology development? Enter cryptocurrency and blockchain. Decentralization, transparency and economic incentives are principles inherent to cryptocurrencies and blockchain.
Take these fundamental ideas and mix them with AI, and you have a whole new game: an AI industry with low barriers to entry, where anyone can participate, creating a more equitable ecosystem for the development and use of AI. AI technology.
These synergistic benefits are applied to different parts of the AI stack. Let’s take a look at some of these emerging areas:
Decentralized computing
Training AI models is essentially like building a supercomputer. It’s a long, repetitive process, full of trial and error and complex calculations to get the AI model right. All these calculations are extremely expensive as they require specific hardware.
Take OpenAI compute requirements, For example. From 2012 to 2018, their computing needs doubled every few months! This is where GPUs come in: they are specialized hardware that has the processing power required for artificial intelligence.
But GPUs are not easy to get these days. There’s a global chip shortage, a few big names like Nvidia and AMD are running the show, and everyone wants a piece of the action, from gamers to AI developers. This has made GPUs extremely expensive and difficult to find.
To address this GPU supply shortage, many projects have adopted cryptocurrency principles to align economic incentives between GPU suppliers and buyers. The idea is to make it easier and cheaper to get your hands on the computing power you need.
Some of the major projects that fall into this category are:
- io.net— io.net creates an open market for underutilized GPUs from sources like data centers and crypto miners and makes them available to anyone at a fraction of the costs of traditional GPUs.
- Akash— Akash is a decentralized computing marketplace that allows users to buy and sell computing assets securely and efficiently. Anyone can become a vendor on Akash and offer their hardware to other users on the platform and earn money.
- Rendering — Render creates a market for idle GPU computing that can be leveraged for different types of projects, such as 3D content creation.
Training and inference of decentralized artificial intelligence models
Crypto x AI projects are embracing a more open and collaborative approach towards creating AI technology. These initiatives leverage blockchain’s principle of decentralization to enable community-driven AI development.
Imagine an open network where anyone can harness the power of their computer to train artificial intelligence models. This creates a pool of collective intelligence available to all, paving the way for the creation of a wide range of AI applications.
Some of the major projects that fall into this category are:
- Bite — Bite is on a mission to make building AI applications more accessible. They are creating an open peer-to-peer marketplace where anyone can share and leverage machine learning models.
- Gensyn— Gensyn is coordinating “all the world’s computers into a single network” to build collective intelligence for training low-cost, large-scale AI models.
Zero-knowledge machine learning
Because many AI systems, including popular ones like ChatGPT, are closed-source, we are unable to control their operation and determine how certain outputs were derived. This may not matter for a question with an easily verifiable answer, but as capabilities increase and our reliance on these technologies increases, we will need more information.
To make the whole process more transparent, some Crypto x AI projects are turning to zero-knowledge machine learning (zkML). zkML combines sophisticated cryptographic techniques with artificial intelligence to ensure the integrity of machine learning processes and the accuracy of their output. It allows us to control the work of artificial intelligence without having to trust anyone, which is what encryption is based on.
Some of the major projects that fall into this category are:
- Giza— Giza offers a one-stop shop for building, managing, and hosting testable machine learning models. Its technology stack can be used to create reliable and easy-to-trust AI solutions for blockchain.
- Module laboratories — Module uses cryptography to verify AI outputs and ensure their accuracy using specialized zk demonstrators.
Artificial intelligence agents
Builders may be trying to level up AI with cryptocurrencies, but they are also trying to level up cryptocurrencies with AI.
AI agents are essentially intelligent robots that can perform tasks independently on DeFi platforms. They process information, make decisions based on that data and take actions to achieve set goals.
AI agents are now a growing presence in DeFi, serving a variety of use cases such as:
AI agents represent a significant step towards creating autonomous systems capable of interacting with the DeFi ecosystem to perform a wide range of tasks. They are ready to be the unique catalysts of this bull market.
AI Agents are the next big cryptocurrency catalyst in the Bankless sector
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Some of the major projects that fall into this category are:
- Car rental— Car rental provides a framework for developing crypto-native AI agents capable of executing complex DeFi strategies autonomously.
- Morpheus – Morpheus is an open source network designed to power peer-to-peer personal AIs, known as Smart Agents, incentivized by a native “MOR” token.
Closing thoughts
The intersection between cryptocurrencies and artificial intelligence is much more than just a speculative bubble; it is an emerging field with real substance.
While the hype is undeniable and some projects appear to be jumping on the bandwagon, the fundamental promise of combining cryptocurrencies and AI is clear — create a more equitable ecosystem for the development and use of AI technology.
Could a Crypto x AI project break into the top 10 cryptocurrency market cap rankings this cycle?
The potential for cryptocurrency and AI collaborations is immense, and we are at an exciting time in this narrative. As time goes on, we may very well see the rise of a project from this space to challenge giants like OpenAI.