How Blockchain Can Keep AI in Check: A New Use Case for the Tech Behind Bitcoin
Blockchain, the technology that underpins cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin, has been hailed as a revolutionary innovation that could transform many sectors of the economy. But it may also have a crucial role to play in ensuring the ethical and responsible use of artificial intelligence (AI), according to some experts.
AI is becoming increasingly powerful and ubiquitous, enabling applications such as facial recognition, self-driving cars, natural language processing, and more. However, AI also poses significant challenges and risks, such as bias, privacy, accountability, and security. How can we ensure that AI is used for good and not evil? How can we trust that AI systems are fair, transparent, and reliable?
One possible solution is to use blockchain to create a decentralized and immutable record of AI activities and decisions, as well as a platform for verifying and auditing AI models and data. Blockchain is a distributed ledger that can store transactions and data without the need for a central authority or intermediary. It can also enable smart contracts, which are self-executing agreements that can enforce rules and conditions.
By combining blockchain and AI, we could create a system where AI agents are registered on the blockchain, along with their inputs, outputs, parameters, and performance metrics. This would allow anyone to trace the provenance and history of an AI system, as well as to verify its accuracy and validity. Moreover, blockchain could enable users to control their own data and consent to how it is used by AI systems, as well as to reward or penalize AI agents based on their behavior and outcomes.
Some examples of blockchain-based AI projects include:
- SingularityNET: A decentralized marketplace for AI services, where anyone can create, share, and monetize AI algorithms.
- Ocean Protocol: A decentralized data exchange protocol that allows data owners to share and sell their data to AI developers while preserving privacy and control.
- Fetch.ai: A decentralized network of autonomous agents that can perform tasks such as data collection, analysis, and optimization.
- Numerai: A hedge fund that crowdsources machine learning models from data scientists around the world, who are rewarded with cryptocurrency for their contributions.
Blockchain is not a panacea for all the challenges and risks of AI, but it may offer a new way to ensure accountability, transparency, and trust in the age of intelligent machines. As Sheila Warren, the CEO of the Crypto Council for Innovation, said: "Blockchain may have found its killer use case by keeping AI in check".