- Tether has made a significant pivot to AI.
- Aims to develop open-source AI models.
- There’s a growing convergence between AI and blockchain.
In an era where artificial intelligence (AI) is dominating headlines, more and more firms are investing heavily in it. Many blockchain firms are also jumping on the bandwagon, including Tether.
Most recently, Tether announced its big bet on AI, creating a new division to take on Big Tech, which dominates AI research. The move raises questions about the growing convergence of AI and blockchain.
Tether’s AI Technology Venture
On March 26, Tether Operations Limited revealed its direct entry into artificial intelligence (AI). With Tether data, its new AI branch, Tether will work on democratizing access to AI models and fostering the development of resilient, decentralized networks.
Sponsored
“As concerns grow over the monopolization of AI technologies by Big Tech, Tether data … is stepping forward to champion transparency and privacy in AI model development,” Tether claimed.
In its statement to the public, Tether has committed to helping develop open-source AI models. This is significant, as the biggest models in terms of user base, including OpenAI’s ChatGPT and Google’s Gemini are closed-source, giving the respective companies full control.
For that reason, Tether revealed it would encourage community contributions to its models, to “advance the field of open AI”. At the same time, the company will partner with for-profit businesses to integrate its technology into their products.
The new AI focus represents a notable pivot for the company, which is well-known for its stablecoin, USDT. However, the company has shown interest in AI earlier. Notably, in September 2023, Tether invested $420 million into Nvidia H100 GPUs, designed for running large language models (LLMs).
Sponsored
This investment suggested that Tether is planning big moves in the AI space. But Tether is not alone in that ambition. Other blockchain projects are also exploring using blockchain technology to boost AI.
Blockchain’s Role in Democratizing AI
Since the launch of ChatGPT, blockchain projects have been looking closely at AI technology. According to CoinGecko, AI-focused crypto tokens, including Render, Fetch.ai and SingularityNET, have a combined market cap of $28,6 billion.
Many other blockchain companies are looking at ways to use AI to boost their ecosystems. For instance, exchanges like Binance and Bybit are using AI to create educational tools, while networks like Solana use it to boost their blockchain explorers. At the same time, Ethereum founder Vitalik Buterin, thinks that AI can tackle the network’s biggest technical risk; potential bugs in its code.
Blockchain companies are well-positioned to take advantage of the AI boom, thinks Catherine Daly, Senior Marketing Strategist at Space and Time, a company at the intersection of blockchain and AI.
In an interview with David Okoya from DailyCoin, Daly emphasized how blockchain can solve some of the biggest issues with AI models today. For instance, AI can tackle the opacity of data used in training AI models.
Daly emphasized that Space and Time is working on verifying the integrity of data fed into AI models. This approach ensures that the data used for training AI models is accurate, unaltered, and compliant with copyright laws.
She argues that AI models would be less of a “black box” than they currently are thanks to blockchain technology. Moreover, users would have more control over how AI models use their data.
On the Flipside
- One of the primary concerns with blockchain technology is its scalability. As AI systems require vast amounts of data and computational resources, the current scalability limitations of blockchain are a challenge.
- Both blockchain and AI draw criticism over their significant energy usage.
Why This Matters
By promoting open-source AI models and leveraging blockchain for decentralized development, initiatives like Tether’s challenge Big Tech companies’ monopolistic control over AI technologies.
Read more about Tether’s pivot to AI:
Tether Joins AI Race with $420M Nvidia GPU Investment
Read more about Solana’s surging stablecoin volume:
