NEAR Protocol Launches NEAR AI

NEAR Protocol, a leading platform in decentralized cloud computing, has made a significant stride in the AI domain with the launch of NEAR AI, a new research and development lab focused on decentralized artificial intelligence. Led by Illia Polosukhin, co-founder of NEAR Protocol and co-creator of the influential Transformers AI architecture, this initiative aims to integrate AI capabilities into the NEAR ecosystem, enhancing its functionality and reach.

The NEAR Foundation also introduced an AI-focused incubator and investment wing dedicated to fostering and funding AI projects that leverage the NEAR platform. This move underscores NEAR’s strategic shift to position itself as a prominent player in the burgeoning field of AI, particularly in decentralized applications.

Illia Polosukhin articulated the foundation’s commitment to optimizing NEAR as a native ecosystem for decentralized AI research and applications. The plan includes significant investments in core infrastructure such as data collection, crowdsourcing, curation, and novel monetization methods, facilitating a robust environment for AI development.

Decentralized AI, as pursued by NEAR, presents a unique model compared to traditional AI development. It aims to utilize blockchain technology to create open networks that encourage shared objectives, although coordinating these efforts effectively remains a challenge. This approach seeks to enhance the democratization, transparency, and trust in AI systems, countering the current trend where a few mega-corporations dominate the AI landscape.

“We envision NEAR as the hub for any AI application and innovative consumer use case, boasting the best User-Owned AI infrastructure accessible to everyone in the Web3 ecosystem,” stated Polosukhin. This vision reflects a broader ambition to decentralize computing power in the AI industry, which is currently concentrated among a handful of powerful entities.

Co-founder and former Microsoft developer Alex Skidanov will join Polosukhin in leading NEAR.AI, promising a formidable team at the helm of this ambitious project.

The initiative comes at a time when other blockchains, like FetchAI, SingularityNet, and Ocean Protocol, are also exploring AI to enhance their ecosystems. These platforms have even proposed merging to form the largest decentralized AI ecosystem, with a combined market capitalization that could place their new ASI token among the top 20 cryptocurrencies.

Furthermore, startups like Venice AI and FLock are exploring niche areas within AI, focusing on privacy, non-censorship, and innovative reward systems to encourage community participation in AI training.

NEAR Protocol’s foray into AI is poised to amplify the role of Web3 in democratizing AI development, addressing critical challenges such as interoperability, throughput, and transaction speeds in blockchain technologies. The NEAR ecosystem, supported by a not-for-profit Swiss Foundation, aims to leverage its vast user base and rich developer ecosystem to realize this vision on a grand scale, reshaping the landscape of AI and blockchain integration.