123. Ala Shaabana and Jacob Steeves - AI on the blockchain (it actually might just make sense)

Published: May 12, 2022, 2:08 p.m.

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Two ML researchers with world-class pedigrees who decided to build a company that puts AI on the blockchain. Now to most people \\u2014 myself included \\u2014 \\u201cAI on the blockchain\\u201d sounds like a winning entry in some kind of startup buzzword bingo. But what I discovered talking to Jacob and Ala was that they actually have good reasons to combine those two ingredients together.

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At a high level, doing AI on a blockchain allows you to decentralize AI research and reward labs for building better models, and not for publishing papers in flashy journals with often biased reviewers.

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And that\\u2019s not all \\u2014 as we\\u2019ll see, Ala and Jacob are taking on some of the thorniest current problems in AI with their decentralized approach to machine learning. Everything from the problem of designing robust benchmarks to rewarding good AI research and even the centralization of power in the hands of a few large companies building powerful AI systems \\u2014 these problems are all in their sights as they build out Bittensor, their AI-on-the-blockchain-startup.

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Ala and Jacob joined me to talk about all those things and more on this episode of the TDS podcast.

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Intro music:

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- Artist: Ron Gelinas

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- Track Title: Daybreak Chill Blend (original mix)

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- Link to Track: https://youtu.be/d8Y2sKIgFWc

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Chapters:

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  • 2:40 Ala and Jacob\\u2019s backgrounds
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  • 4:00 The basics of AI on the blockchain
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  • 11:30 Generating human value
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  • 17:00 Who sees the benefit? 22:00 Use of GPUs
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  • 28:00 Models learning from each other
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  • 37:30 The size of the network
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  • 45:30 The alignment of these systems
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  • 51:00 Buying into a system
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  • 54:00 Wrap-up
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