Whether technology Cassandras warning of the destruction of civilization or technology gurus predicting the unlocking of a new level of human potential, generative AI has taken centre stage in the public debate.
There now seems to be a broad consensus about the significance of AI as a powerful technology that will be a serious disruptor for the way we live and interact.
The same attributes have been used to describe blockchain which has begun to see adoption by non-crypto native actors, including banks, brands and even governments who increasingly use the technology in real world applications.
So is AI stealing the show and is blockchain technology taking a backseat to a more relevant and exciting technology?
Opposing forces or complements?
At first glance, AI seems to differ fundamentally from crypto in that it effectively requires centralized data caches for training, opposing the premise of crypto’s decentralized nature.
This antagonistic view, however, obscures the fact that blockchain and AI are in fact powerful complements that are interlinked in many ways:
Transparency and trust
Accountability is one of the key challenges of AI affecting confidence in its outputs. To be trustable AI needs to be explainable. As an immutable ledger, blockchain offers insight into the provenance of the data AI models were trained on to arrive at their recommendations. This enhances data integrity and builds trust in the outputs of seemingly opaque AI models.
Augmentation
AI’s ability to rapidly read, understand and correlate data brings a new level of intelligence to blockchain-based business networks whose complexity can seem unwieldy. Blockchain in turn facilitates crowdsourcing large volumes and variations of data which helps AI models provide more accurate and actionable insights. Blockchain can similarly facilitate model sharing and validation of the actual model being used.
Computing power
AI requires significant computing power which is capped by the capacity of centralized data servers. Distributed ledger technology allows the aggregation of computing power of many machines throughout a network.
Automation
AI can bring a higher level of efficiency and complexity to smart contracts by incorporating intelligence in self-executing algorithms to react to previously unforeseen scenarios, resolve disputes and find efficient solutions to challenges.
Authenticity and proof of humanness
Blockchain can provide a powerful solution to some of the most daunting threats of AI. As evidenced by the recent fake image of the Pentagon explosion which briefly sent jitters through the stock market, AI generated forgery and fake news represents a real danger to our societies. So does AI’s potential to create millions of 3rd or higher generation bots mimicking human behaviour programmed to compromise critical cyberspace infrastructure or influence public opinion.
Blockchain technology can provide a powerful solution to these issues by allowing the verification of provenance, identity, and humanness. Worldcoin which recently raised a USD 115 million Series C round led by Blockchain Capital, points in this direction. Worldcoin's Ethereum based protocol WorldID is using iris scans to enable proof of uniqueness and personhood. Apart from saving us from solving more CAPTCHA puzzles (it is estimated that humans around the world collectively spend 200-500 years each day solving them) WorldID is therefore directly countering one most important threats of AI.
AI as a catalyst for blockchain
AI and blockchain are in fact powerful complementary technologies which are mutually enhancing their potential. Far from stealing the show, AI can rather be seen as a catalyst and booster for the development of blockchain technology which is ultimately indispensable for AI to achieve its full potential. At the same time blockchain technology serves as an important tool to counter and check some of AI’s most unsettling threats.
Blockchain venture capital has understood this complementarity and is actively working on projects at the intersection of the two technologies. Worldcoin - which interestingly is yet another brainchild of OpenAI’s Sam Altman - is just one example of many applications around digital identity which make use of blockchain technology to counter the threats of AI. Others will no doubt soon follow.
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