Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Language Learning Models (LLMs) have been quietly working away in the background for decades. It wasn’t until early 2023 that OpenAI launched GPT 3.5, and the general population got to grasp the full potential of the current state of AI. Just as the internet was a paradigm shift for humanity, how blockchain disrupts industries across the board, it is clear that AI is positioned to be an equally significant shift in how technology develops across all sectors in the coming years. What is not clear is whether governments and corporations will allow the general population access to the full extent of this technology.
The AI industry itself is vast and is growing at an unprecedented rate. However, it’s not just the AI industry directly impacted by this growth. Healthcare, finance, and education are just a few examples of sectors poised to utilize AI to contribute significantly to future developments. From new drug design to trading analysis, the impact that AI is having - and will have - is being felt across the board.
As with most disruptive technologies, only some agree that it is the right thing for the public to have access to. CEO of Tesla and founder of SpaceX has spoken up multiple times about his perceived risks of AI, with statements including, “If you’re not concerned about AI safety, you should be. Vastly more risk than North Korea.” Political figures worldwide have also raised their concerns about the safety of AI, with British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak stating, “In the most unlikely but extreme cases, there is even the risk that humanity could lose control of AI completely through the kind of AI sometimes referred to as super intelligence,”
Censorship is not a new issue for humanity. Still, with the advancements of the internet, the extent of some governments' censorship over entire populations and corporations' censorship over their users' content is becoming more apparent. The past 15 years have seen the rapid growth of blockchain technology, the immutable distributed ledger technology (DLT) that powers Bitcoin and Ethereum. Blockchain is often considered a technology for finance, with “cryptocurrency” being the buzzword. However, blockchain and DLT can be utilized for many use cases - including decentralizing access to technology such as AI. Decentralized access to AI via blockchain would allow users to access the technology transparently, despite what censorship a government attempts to enforce, just as anyone in the world can send Bitcoin - all that would be needed is an internet connection.
Sandeep Nailwa, founder of Ethereum scaling solution company Polygon Labs spoke recently ,in February 2024, at ETHDenver regarding the importance of decentralized AI.
“The rapid acceleration of centralized AI and its integration into everyday life has led humanity to a crossroads between two future worlds. On the one hand, we have the choice of a Closed World. This world is controlled by few, closed-source models run by massive mega-corporations. On the other hand, we have the choice of an Open World. In this world, models are default open-source, inference is verifiable, and value flows back to the stakeholders. The Open World is the world we want to live in, but it is only possible by leveraging blockchain”
Sandeep is not alone in voicing his opinion on the importance of decentralizing AI to ensure that AI and LLMs are accessible and, most importantly, trustless and verifiable to everyone who wishes to use them. Vitalik Buterin has, on multiple occasions, voiced his opinion on the matter too.
In line with true decentralization, it would be imperative that such protocols are governed by those who utilize the platform - not by a centralized entity. Having the decentralized AI network migrate step-by-step towards becoming a DAO would be the only way to allow for a fully trustless experience. Although not something that new protocols can implement initially without enabling attacks, the migration towards and eventual complete control of a DAO would be vital for the protocol’s success.
The importance of having access to AI for everyone is imperative and blockchain allows that - the significance of this is that everyone can access the models and verify the models, too. The power of DLT for creating decentralized AI models is immense and, if utilized correctly and cautiously, allows for the full potential of AI to be experienced in a fully transparent, trustless manner.