Blockchain will make 2025 the year when AI is ideal for developers and users
Comment by: Salman Avestimehr, Founder and CEO of China Opera
With a market value expected to reach more than $1.3 trillion by 2030, AI has captured the imagination of consumers and investors alike, enabling the world to work smarter and make more informed decisions. However, the rapid progress of generative AI applications has been largely driven by a centralized development model in which two key contributors – users and developers – are largely denied any voice, stake or ownership in the development process.
The centralized app creation model combined with a lack of users and developers means that today's agents and apps lack the true privacy that will propel AI agents to the next level of adoption and the expected trillion dollar AI economy. By decentralizing and agentizing AI application creation, users and developers will be empowered to take ownership, and deliver better, more innovative applications by 2025.
Generative AI application ecosystem
With more than half of the world's population owning a smartphone and generative AI set to increase smartphone shipments by 364% year-on-year by 2024, AI has a great chance to enhance the user experience through on-device personalization. The current ecosystem of generative AI applications has serious flaws that hurt the user experience, discourage AI developers, and hinder sustainable development.
Concerns abound that AI models such as ChatGPT and other LLM-based chatbots cannot protect user data or prioritize data quality. There have also been cases of AI agents expressing political bias or contributing to the spread of outright disinformation. Additionally, many AI companies are running out of data on which to train their large language models and AI algorithms, with 25% of data from high-quality sources limited between April 2023 and April 2024.
To date, developers have been largely limited to using models released by large, centralized organizations, which limits innovation opportunities and hinders developers' ability to address issues around user data privacy. Agency developers want to create better apps with more specialized data and human intelligence that improve agent quality and personalization, and users want more personalized experiences that protect their privacy and reward their contributions.
Decentralization is the solution.
Centralized models make the mistake of leaving out two key stakeholders: developers and users. Centralized entities created GPT-4 and most currently available AI applications and agents behind closed doors. With or without transparency during the construction process, developers and users must trust the resulting models, and users must accept the resulting applications. There is another way.
Recently, Google announced a new quantum computing chip, marking the time for crypto-encryption?
By deploying a decentralized approach to application and agent innovation, developers and users are empowered with voice and ownership. The underlying application development layer should include a decentralized network of GPUs, allowing the development process to be open and transparent, rather than being hidden behind a central compute provider that can have too much influence.
The added benefit of decentralized computing is that it can be more affordable than relying on centralized providers, which are experiencing significant demand bottlenecks due to the proliferation of IT applications and associated data processing needs.
Community members should have more control over what information developers use when creating applications that are perceived as tailored to their needs. A possible way to encourage community participation is through value-based rewards, leveraging the monetization capabilities enabled by blockchain technology. When people are financially rewarded for contributing their data, they are more likely to do so.
As users become more aware of online privacy risks, they demand safe and secure data usage. Providers who collect sensitive information run the risk of storing such information in databases that can be accessed by hackers. We have seen the devastating effects of data breaches like the 2017 Equifax hack where 148 million Americans were affected.
The consequences of hacking into an AI company's database can be far more severe and far-reaching. Decentralized networks do not have such a central database to attract hackers, making this model more secure.
When supported by secure technology and appropriate incentives, developers can access high-quality personalized data, which can be deployed to create the most user-friendly applications. Most centralized models work by scouring the Internet for information, but there are limits to how well an agent can customize that method.
Instead, if people share their personal health, finances, and other sensitive information securely with a decentralized system that protects and rewards those data inputs, the possibilities for customized agents that can advise us based on our unique health, financial, or educational profiles are nearly endless.
look forward
Democratizing AI application development and creating communities where all stakeholders are valued and rewarded will foster the sustainable development of AI. Harnessing the quality of human intelligence and personal data in decentralized networks enables applications that dramatically increase our productivity, communication, and social engagement while maintaining the privacy of user data.
From personal health and wellness apps that provide customized health tips and nutrition advice to analyze our spending habits and establish financial goals, and virtual stylists that suggest clothing and accessories based on our style preferences, to smart financial planners, we can only begin to imagine the options. For agents built in a truly collaborative and decentralized way that puts developers and end users first.
Salman Avestaimr is the founder and CEO of China Opera.
This article is not intended for general information purposes and should not be construed as legal or investment advice. The views, ideas and opinions expressed herein are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views and opinions of Cointelegraph.
