Produced by: CGV Research
Author: Cynic
Introduction
In the rapidly advancing era of technology, the convergence of Web3 and Artificial Intelligence (AI) is becoming an inevitable trend. These two domains are no longer independent parallel lines but are increasingly intertwined, jointly shaping our digital future.
Web3, as a decentralized and distributed network concept, provides a more equitable and transparent digital space. Its core idea empowers users with control over their data through blockchain and encryption technologies. AI, on the other hand, serves as a major driving force propelling this era forward. By learning and mimicking human intelligence, it enhances the speed and quality of decision-making, optimizes user experiences, and plays a significant role in data processing and analysis.
When these two elements come together, we anticipate a new internet experience. In this world driven by AI and supported by Web3, we not only witness more personalized and intelligent services but also experience unprecedented data security and transparency. AI can leverage its analytical and predictive capabilities within the Web3 framework, while Web3 provides AI with a decentralized and tamper-resistant data platform.
This fusion heralds a more intelligent and decentralized digital future, where technology not only serves humanity but is intricately connected to human lifestyles, values, and goals. The combination of Web3 and AI is not just a technological integration but also an anticipation and shaping of future societal forms and cultures.
The CGV Research team will release a series of reports focusing on the “Integration of Web3 and Artificial Intelligence (AI),” exploring the combination of AI technology with Web3 applications such as DeFi, NFTs, computing power, data management, and discovering practical and cutting-edge Web3×AI solutions.
Web3: The Next Generation Internet Upholding Individual Sovereignty
Web3 is the next-generation internet centered around decentralization and blockchain technology, aiming to construct a new value system where users possess digital sovereignty. The development goal of Web3 is to break the monopolization of data by internet giants, allowing users to control the content and data assets they create.
The internet’s principles are openness, freedom, and sharing. While Web2’s internet giants diverged from these principles by using centralized servers to extract user data, the open, transparent, and decentralized nature of Web3 returns control and ownership of data to individual users — a Renaissance in the new era.
Early Web3 primarily focused on financial scenarios, with cryptocurrency and decentralized finance (DeFi) as the main applications. Today, the application scope of Web3 has greatly expanded, with gaming, social interactions, and governance becoming new growth points for Web3, and various traditional industries shifting towards Web3.
AI: A New Era of Industrial Revolution Driven by Data and Computing Power
AI simulates human intelligence through computer systems, endowing computers with cognitive abilities, focusing on reasoning, learning, and self-correction. Early AI used specialized models trained on single-domain datasets for specific tasks, including computer vision (CV) and natural language processing (NLP) — referred to as AI 1.0. The emergence of large language models (LLMs) like ChatGPT represents the advancement of AI technology into the 2.0 era. AI 2.0 utilizes vast cross-domain datasets with powerful computing support to train general models with high generalization capabilities, applicable to various tasks. Large models tailored for specific application scenarios can be fine-tuned with low marginal costs, making them more suitable for large-scale commercial use.
AI 2.0’s general artificial intelligence excels in seven dimensions: text generation, language understanding, knowledge retrieval, logical reasoning, mathematics, code processing, and multimodality. It has greatly expanded productivity, becoming a new growth engine for human society after the internet revolution.
Web3 x AI: The Inevitable Trend of Digital Economic Development
From a macro perspective, Web3 and AI may seem to have opposing cores — Web3 emphasizes decentralization, while AI often requires significant centralized computing power for model training. However, they are not mutually exclusive; instead, they complement each other. Web3 represents advanced production relations, where individuals truly own their data, content, and property, reclaiming sovereignty. AI represents advanced productivity, liberating humans from tedious repetitive work. Their combination is the inevitable trend of digital economic development.
On one hand, Web3 brings decentralized production relations to AI, addressing user incentive issues through the blockchain’s openness, transparency, and verifiability. Generative AI significantly lowers the barrier for creating high-quality content, and Web3 allows users to reap the benefits of their valuable content. With blockchain, all user contributions can be publicly, transparently, and immutably recorded, providing a platform for individual creativity.
On the other hand, AI makes Web3 intelligent, enhancing productivity, broadening application scenarios, and improving user experiences. Generative AI accelerates the creative process, enhancing content quality and diversity, endowing individuals with greater productivity, expanding innovation boundaries, and allowing Web3 innovations to emerge at lower costs. With the help of AI, Web3 products can offer more intelligent services, reducing user participation barriers and driving mass adoption.
The Renaissance of Industries: Landing Scenarios for Web3 x AI
After years of research and development, the Web3 and AI industries are poised for large-scale deployment. The singularity of the digital economy is approaching, and various domains are embracing the synergy of Web3 x AI, sparking new vitality.
At the physical layer, Proof-of-Work (PoW) mining machines can integrate with AI model training, fully unleashing computing power. As large models like ChatGPT rise, computing power becomes a critical factor limiting AI development, with only a few giants obtaining massive computing power, hindering further innovation in the AI field. In this context, a decentralized network named DePIN emerges. DePIN integrates cutting-edge technologies, including blockchain, effectively consolidating global decentralized computing resources and data, creating an open and shared computing infrastructure. This network provides a sustainable and reliable ecosystem for AI models, making training and running AI models more feasible and sustainable.
At the data layer, Web3 incentivizes users to generate higher-quality data, further enhancing the quality of AI models. AI’s underlying components are algorithms, computing power, and data, with data being the most crucial factor determining the quality of AI models. Current AI models mostly rely on publicly available data for training, with low costs but compromised quality. Higher-quality data forms the foundation for efficient AI models, and Web3 allows users to regain data sovereignty, benefitting from it, and positively incentivizing the creation of higher-quality content.
At the application layer, AI empowers past Web3 applications with higher intelligence, optimizing user experiences. The security of DeFi has always been a Damocles sword hanging over everyone’s head; AI-empowered contract audits will significantly reduce the likelihood of contract security vulnerabilities. In the realms of NFTs and gaming, AIGC can lower the difficulty of material creation and accelerate innovation. In DAO governance, AI can not only provide suggestions as an assistant to governance participants but also directly participate as a governance member, adding another dimension to governance.
Conclusion
The year 2023 marks the birth of a miracle, with widespread adoption of Web3, breakthrough projects in the social and gaming sectors creating a ripple effect; AI officially enters the 2.0 era, empowering various industries through large language models, heralding an innovation singularity.
The CGV Research team believes that the fusion of AI and Web3 not only opens up new technological frontiers but also foreshadows profound changes at the societal, economic, and cultural levels. This integration endows individuals with greater digital sovereignty and creative power while bringing about more efficient and intelligent productivity and services for the entire society. With continuous technological advancements, we are poised to embrace a more decentralized, intelligent digital future, where the value and contributions of individuals receive full respect and reward.
CGV firmly believes that Web3 x AI is an inevitable trend in the digital economy, potentially giving rise to more unicorn projects. Standing together with Builder, CGV has established the AIFocus Accelerator, providing comprehensive support for builders in the Web3 x AI space, collectively constructing the future of Web3 x AI. At the intersection of Web3 and AI technologies, AIFocus Accelerator warmly invites innovators and developers worldwide to join this historic journey.
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About Cryptogram Venture (CGV):
CGV (Cryptogram Venture) is a crypto investment institution headquartered in Tokyo, Japan. Since 2017, its fund and predecessor funds have participated in investing in over 200 projects, including the incubation of the licensed Japanese yen stablecoin JPYW. CGV is also a limited partner in several globally renowned crypto funds. Since 2022, CGV has successfully hosted two editions of the Japan Web3 Hackathon (TWSH), supported by Japan's Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology, Keio University, NTT Docomo, and other institutions and experts. CGV has branches in Hong Kong, Singapore, New York, Toronto, and other locations. Additionally, CGV is a founding member of the Bitcoin Tokyo Club.
About AIFocus:
AIFocus is an entrepreneurial project accelerator based in Hong Kong, co-initiated by CGV (Cryptogram Venture) and Web3 Labs. It is dedicated to in-depth exploration of the AI and Web3 domains, selecting teams with forward-thinking ideas and creativity, and providing support in terms of technical talent, resources, and funding. AIFocus adheres to the service principle of investing first and then accelerating, aiming to unearth outstanding projects and propel them to rapid success.
Disclaimer:
The information and materials introduced in this article are sourced from public channels, and our company does not guarantee their accuracy or completeness. Descriptions or predictions involving future situations are forward-looking statements, and any advice and opinions provided are for reference only and do not constitute investment advice or implications for anyone. The strategies our company may adopt could be the same, opposite, or unrelated to the strategies readers might speculate based on th
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