July 31, 2024

Open Source AI Summit: Empowering the Future of User-Owned AI


At a recent EthCC Talk, cofounder of Vana, Anna Kazlauskas, emphasized the transformative potential of user-owned AI foundation models. Here’s an overview of the key insights from the talk.

From Centralized to User-Owned AI
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While the early days of crypto were driven by a vision of decentralized ownership, a similar movement is now emerging in the field of AI. This movement envisions user-owned AI models that balance collective ownership and funding models for large capital investments into data and compute for frontier models.

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  • Centralized AI: Controlled by single entities, monetizable but limited in accessibility.
  • Open-Source AI: Accessible to many but hard to monetize.
  • User-Owned AI: Combines the best of both worlds, allowing for monetization while being controlled by many.


The Data Challenge

Anna discussed the impending "data wall," where AI researchers are running out of data to train models on, as they’ve run out of publicly capable data. As companies lock down valuable data, the internet becomes less open. User-owned data becomes crucial, with platforms like Vana empowering users to manage and monetize their data collectively. By contributing their data, users can join data liquidity pools that fuel AI model development and give them ownership in the AI revolution.

Vana uses proof of contribution to measure and reward individual data inputs, ensuring data quality. Projects like the Reddit Data DAO demonstrate the viability of this approach. Vana also introduces non custodial data, where users can permission their data using a crypto wallet, just like their funds.

Join the Movement
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Together, we can push the boundaries of AI while ensuring that control and benefits remain in the hands of the users. Developers, researchers, and everyday users should all  join the movement towards user-owned AI. By contributing to data liquidity pools, running validator nodes, or starting up a new data DAO, you can play an integral role in this journey.

For more insights watch Anna’s full talk, visit:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Icuu80JvDps

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